Something's Forgotten
by ecStarz
Summary: When Kim gets into a horrible accident and can't remember who her best friends are, she feels like she has lost hope. Will she have to start over from the very beginning? Or will Jack spark a memory that will set everything right again?
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey! This is my first writing ever and even though you may or may not like it, I want you guys to review this truthfully; lies will get me nowhere. **

**I'll only keep writing if you want me to and I won't post chapter one until I get reviews on the prologue because I kind of want to write something people will actually read. Like I said before, this is my very first writing ever, so even though I want you guys to review, please don't be that mean.**

**THANKS! And I know Kim might seem a little OOC at first but hopefully that will change as the story progresses.**

**Prologue**

"Kim."

That voice. I recognized that voice from somewhere.

"Kim, can you hear me?"

That voice was so familiar. Where did it come from? A dozen questions wandered through my mind. Who did that voice belong to? Why was it so familiar? Why can't I open my eyes to see who the voice's owner was?

"Dude," a quieter voice started, "you know that doc said she couldn't interact with us until later. That means she can't hear us, bro."

I knew that voice too! Where were these voices coming from? This voice had a slight Spanish accent. Did I know someone with a Spanish accent? No, I don't think so.

Someone, I don't know where, sighed, probably being just a little overdramatic. "You think I don't know that? Do you think I like being in this situation?" Voice number one was getting very exasperated. Wait- what is this situation you speak of?

"Jack, none of us blames you. It wasn't your fault for what happened to her."

Ok, so voice number one's owner was apparently named "Jack." Do I know a Jack? I racked my brain for references of someone named Jack, but nothing immediately came to mind.

"It might has well have been! I could have prevented it but I didn't. Kim is pretty much in here because of me!" 'In here?' What is 'here?' Ok, mister, who are you, what did you do to me, and where is 'here?'

There was a somewhat long moment of silence and I couldn't figure out what Jack and mystery boy might have been doing. Suddenly, mystery boy spoke up. "Jack, maybe you should get out of here. Go to the cafeteria and relax, maybe get something to eat. I know Milton and Eddie are worried. Maybe you should go let them know that Kim is fine."

_But I'm not fine! _I wanted to scream. I didn't know where I was, what happened to me, or why there were two creepers in my room who were talking about me like we were best friends or something weird like that because I'm pretty sure that I am not friends with 'Jack' and a Spanish-accented person.

"Yeah, you're probably right Jer," Jack said with an even longer sigh than before.

Ok, scratch what I said before. I am pretty sure that I am not friends with a 'Jack' and a 'Jer.' What kind of name is Jer anyway?

"Pft, I know I'm right," Jer said, laughing. There was a pause followed by a slam of the door which told me that Jer and Jack probably left the room.

My brain relaxed once the two boys left but now that I didn't have anything to concentrate on except the steady beep of some weird contraption to the… left of me, I finally noticed that I was in pain; and a lot of it.

I think my head hurt the worst out of everything. It was throbbing unevenly at the base of the skull, near the back of the top of my neck. My back hurt pretty badly too. I tried moving but no avail. I couldn't open my eyes, let alone lift a finger up. Other parts of my body hurt too but those were the most painful.

Since I didn't have anything better to do, I tried to remember what happened to me that made me become injured so badly. Ok, you probably think I'm making this up or at least a lunatic, but literally, the last thing I remember at the moment is the sound of the slamming door when Jack and Jer walked out of this place that I don't know. If I try to look beyond that moment, all I get is a big blur that makes my head hurt worse. Seriously, I feel like my brain is going to explode if I think too hard.

I tried to fall back asleep after I had my mini thinking session but just as I was about to drift into unconsciousness, the door burst open with as much noise as possible and whoever was behind the force did not care whatsoever that I was on the verge of getting much-needed beauty sleep.

I wanted to tell them off, but I couldn't move or speak so that was out of the question, obviously.

"Stop pushing, Jerry! I'm going as fast as I can," said a boy who sounded like a five-year-old. Great, a third voice to add to my list of creepers. His voice was somewhat high and girlish-sounding but it was obvious- _wait. Did girly-boy say 'Jerry?'_ I tried to put two and two together. _Jack said 'Jer,' and the third boy said 'Jerry,' and they sound a lot alike. Ok, Jer and Jerry. Jer, Jerry, Jer, Jerry… Oh! Jer, is a short nick-name for Jerry! Wow, I feel like an idiot. _I mentally slapped myself on the forehead, 'cause, you know, I'm unable.

That still left a problem, though. I still had no idea who this 'Jerry' person was, much less Jack and now a nasally freak.

My life was just great at the moment.

"Well, hurry up! The game starts in two minutes and we still have to figure out what channel it's on!" I think it was Jerry talking- there was the Spanish accent again.

Jack spoke up next. "I agree with Jerry, we have to hurry." He paused. "Well now, hold on." Jack must've been sort of a miracle worker or something because just when I thought the boys couldn't get any louder, they stopped making noise and (I guessed) turned their attention toward Jack. "Should we watch the game in here? Because this _is_ Kim's room and we should be considerate. After all, she _is _comatose."

I decided I liked this Jack kid, whoever he was. He seemed nice and cared about other peoples' feelings…

"Dude," Jerry dragged out the word, "It's totally swag," Swag? Really? "to care about Kim, man, but this is the only room in the whole hospital that has cable TV and my two favorite teams are playing," I heard a sound like someone fell onto the couch. It was probably Jerry, "so we are watching it in here."

…unlike Mr. Spanish boy over there, draped across the couch like he owned it. I haven't decided if I liked the five-year-old yet. I guess I'll just have to wait to hear if he says anything worth my liking. So far, the odds aren't good.

Someone sighed but I couldn't tell who it was. Maybe it was Jack; he seemed to be doing a lot of it lately anyway.

Sooner or later I heard the TV come to life but apparently whoever was in this room before me was practically deaf because the volume was maxed out and wasn't bothered to be turned down. It was so loud that I couldn't make out any of the words that were being said from the boys _and _the TV.

"WOAH! WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! WOAH!" Someone screamed and immediately the volume was lowered. "Guys, that was so loud, Kim probably could hear it and she's not even conscious!" Jack.

_WRONG! _I wanted to scream, yet again. _I _could_ hear it even if I'm not fully "awake!" God, you guys are full of yourselves._

"Dude, you're right, I'm sorry, bro." At least he sounded sincere. "Here, let me take that remote and put it away for you." There was a pause and I guess it was Jack giving the remote to Jerry. "I'm just gonna shoot it into the basket on the stand next to the bed and hope I get three points for it!" Wait- what? Come again?

"Jerry, wait! This is _not _a basketball court! Something bad could happen." Great, now the five-year-old was standing up for me. I guess it was nice of him to look after me, even if I had no clue who this little dude was.

"Oh, c'mon Milton," alright, so the little man's name was Milton. _Hmmmm, _I thought, _kind of fits, _"what's the worst that could happen?" Um, a lot? Like for one thing, the frickin' remote could hit me! Where was Jack? He seemed sensible and I was pretty sure that he could stop this Jerry 'dude.'

"Jerry, I advise you to put the remote down." Ah, there he was. "Either that or walk over to the basket like a normal person and just _lay _the remote in there. Do not, I repeat: do not, throw it."

"Jack, you're the one who always tells us to reach for our goals and never let anything, or anyone, get in our way. And right now, my goal is to make this remote into the basket on the other side of the room."

What kind of goal was that?

"Jerry, I only meant for you to take that statement literally when, oh I don't know, you're doing martial arts or dancing or stuff like that, _not _when you're trying to shoot a remote into a basket like it was a basketball." Thank you, Jack. Wait- martial arts? Eh, I guess martial arts were alright. I'd only seen it done a couple times, I think, because not that I was trying to remember, a single time didn't pop up.

"Whatever, I'm going for it! In 3-"

"Now wait a sec-"

"2-"

"Jerry, no!"

"1!"

_No!_

"Ah Christmas nuts." Ok, Milton, now is not the time.

I was bracing myself for what to come because honestly, I had no idea what would happen. After a few moments of dead silence and no sound of an impact with anything in the general area, I guessed that Jerry had actually done it and made it into the-

_OW!_

I spoke too soon.

Somehow Mr. Spanish boy created a high ark where the landing point of the remote just so happened to be directly in the middle of my forehead. How did he manage to do that, you might ask? I have no frickin' idea.

The pain from the impact exploded throughout my entire skull and I felt like I was going to die, or at least have my brain burst into a bazillion pieces. The pain moved from the targeted point, to the sore spot on the back of my neck, to my temples where it just stayed there like it had all the time in the world. Now, I don't know what was wrong with me; I didn't expect so much pain to come from a little bump on the head.

All of a sudden I got really tired and I felt numbness throughout my whole body. I couldn't think straight anymore and I was getting subconsciously dizzy. _What is happening?_

The thing that was to the left of me was beeping slowly and steadily until the collision. Within seconds, the once-steady beeps turned into a continuous sound and I slowly drifted off into what I thought was a deep sleep.

"Jerry, what did you do? She's flat lining!" Jack screeched, and that was the last thing I heard before I blacked out.

**Well, there's the prologue. I know kind of short but keep in mind that it's just the prologue. My chapters are going to be longer than this, but that's up for you to decide. REVIEW if you want me to keep writing.**

**Also, if you have any idea or suggestions, I'm very flexible. I'll make it work. Thanks, and remember, BE HONEST!**

**-ecStarz**


	2. Chapter 1 One Week Later

**A/N: Hey! First of all, I want to thank everyone for the reviews! Honestly, I didn't think anyone would read it so it was very… uplifting to know that you guys want me to keep writing! It made my day.**

**Anyway, here's the first chapter and I want you to know that I was thinking a lot about how to make it work and I rewrote a lot of it and I just hope it turned out okay.**

**Thanks again and remember… REVIEW and/or COMMENT! Ok, on with the story…**

**Chapter One**

*One Week Later*

One thing you figure out while you're unconscious is that time either flies by really fast or really slow. My way? Time was flying by abnormally fast which I thought was weird considering whenever I pictured someone in a coma, they'd be awake but listening to peoples' conversations around them - which I was doing but then got knocked out by Jerry's remote. Darn you Jerry, you are now on my hit list- and time would be flying by at a sluggish pace. But that did not seem to be the case here.

Actually, I didn't know how long I was out for- maybe an hour, two hours? But with this whole 'time flies by fast' concept, I could've really been out for weeks, maybe months, which, now that I thought about it, kind of scared me.

Like before (before I blacked out, that is), I was awakened by the voices of the strange people that were hanging around in my hospital room. According to 'Jerry,' my room was the only one in the entire hospital that had cable TV and that thought alone made me look forward to fully awakening from my coma because who doesn't like to watch TV? At least I could do it in my own room.

"Yes, mom, I know it's late-" There was a moment of silence before the guy started speaking again. _Ok, weird._ "Ok, I- I understand. It's just-" Another pause. Oh, he must be talking on the phone! And to his mommy! Aw, so cute. "I know I have. It's just that I want to be here when she wakes up and… yes I know that it's been a week already but… mom… I have to do this, please?"

_Okay, so it's been a week since I have heard any news of Jack and the rest of the nerd herd so if I do the math correctly then I have been in total black-out for about a week now. _

Awesome. That was just dandy. And here I was, thinking it had only been like five minutes or something crazy like that. Boy, was I wrong.

Also, that guy apparently was not through with his conversation. "Mom, yes I know… I'll be home soon," I felt bad for this guy! His mom would not give him a break! "Mom, I promise! And when an Anderson makes a promise, they never back down on it…"

Anderson? Why is that name so familiar? Harry Anderson? _No. _John Anderson? _Maybe, but I don't think so. _Nate Anderson? _Nah. _ My head hurt too much to think so I just gave up. I clenched my hands with internal anger. Why couldn't I remember _anything_? Why is it like my mind was erased and every time- wait a second. I just clenched my fists. Woah, I just _clenched_my _fists. _ Which means- what exactly?

_Try opening your eyes. _I listened to the little voice in my head and hesitantly opened my eyes. It was beautiful! Considering I've spent a long time in complete utter darkness with an occasional dream about a cute brown-haired, brown-eyed boy, seeing light was fine by me. Well, up until my brain registered that the newly-discovered light was burning my corneas and decided that it would burn like-! I immediately snapped them back shut but was surprised that during this whole reaction I didn't make a single sound. Maybe it was because subconsciously I was being courteous to the weirdo talking to his mother in the middle of my room, which b-t-dubs, he still wasn't finished with.

"Ok, I'm glad you understand… yes, I'll be home in a little bit… alright, bye!... I love you too! And it's just Jack, not anything else ok? 'K good. Yeah, bye!" And I heard a phone snap shut.

So, mystery boy with the overprotective mommy was Jack, eh? Interesting.

Now that I knew I could at least move my hands and open my eyes, I wanted to see how far I could get. I tried to move my toes since they were smallest moving parts on my body and, I don't know if it was my imagination or not, but I'm pretty sure my toes started to move. Ok, toes? Check. I already knew my fingers moved so that was already checked off of my mental list. Next? _Hmmm, let's try crossing the legs? _Good idea little nonexistent voice. I carefully lifted my right leg and shifted it over my left. I knew it wasn't my imagination this time because that simple movement hurt really badly but once I relaxed my legs they seemed fine. I tried to make as little noise as possible because I didn't need the 'Jack' boy over there coming over here and intruding my personal space. I mean seriously? Can't a girl have some private time in her own room? Anyway, I checked off my legs on my mental list with a very painful checkmark. On the bright side, I can move something bigger than a phalange.

Now let's take the time to look at bigger problems. For example, Jack seemed to be on the phone again. "Hey Jerry, can you come back to the hospital? I don't want to be alone." Wait _Jerry_? The uncontrollable Jerry? Oh, Jack why couldn't you invite someone other than that kid? Even the five-year-old was a better choice than that Spanish, remote-throwin' maniac. "Yes, I know I sound like a sissy but… I'm kind of freaked out by the sight and presence of an unconscious body and it would mean a lot to me if you hung out here too."

Aha! What this Jack doesn't know is that I am not unconscious anymore and I can actually move parts of my body. Actually, there was nothing stopping me from throwing myself out of bed and running out the door right now, away from this maniac magnet called a hospital room. Except for the fact that it'd hurt a lot and I'd be in a lot of pain; and I didn't know if I could walk yet, much less run. So, now that I think about it, I have an active imagination and I should just quit it and go back to pretending that I was asleep. It was probably better than hurting myself. This plan was definitely out of the question, at least for right now.

"Thanks, Jer! You're the best… oh, and I know. I kinda figured… alright, see ya soon!" And for the second time that day, I heard the annoying sound of the phone being shut. Seriously, I was debating whether or not to "wake" up right this moment just so that dude named 'Jerry' wouldn't have to show up.

After a little bit of thinking and a big headache, I decided against it.

Ok, Jerry must've been like a wolf or a cheetah or something because that kid was here in less than five minutes. Even Jack noticed so I knew it wasn't just me.

I heard the sound of the hospital door opening and then the distinct sound of heavy breathing, probably Jerry.

"Dude, what happened? You didn't have to get here this fast." _Oh, I know he didn't._

"Trust me… I know. I was… walking… normal-paced you could say… but then… out of nowhere… this huge beast starts chasing me… and, being me… I didn't know what to do… so I just ran." Oh, so he wasn't a wolf, he was being _chased _by a wolf. Well, that makes more sense. And I have to admit, it was funny listening to him talk while trying to gasp for a breath between sections of his sentence.

"Oh… and I called Milton and Eddie to come, too…" I think he finally caught his breath back, "I figured we could have a little sleepover here while we wait for Kimmy to wake up." Spanish-maniac-dude say what? And did he just call me Kimmy? For some reason that irked me but I couldn't put my finger on why.

"Don't call her Kimmy," Jack warned. "If she heard you, she'll wake up and will kill you." I will? "You know she hates that name." Ah, that must be why. I should probably make a note of that. _I hate the name 'Kimmy' and will apparently kill anyone who calls me that. _Ok, done.

"But you call her that all the time!"

"Yeah, when she's fully functional and healthy! Not when she is comatose and has weeks of sturdily built up anger! And you know I'm a beast at martial arts and could take her down any day."

_Note: Kill Jack when 'fully functional and healthy.'_

"Who's ready to par-tay?" Great, Milton has arrived…

"Meeeeee!" …with apparently 'Eddie.' It was a new voice that I've never heard before and I felt eager to add it on my list of creepers who like to hang around. Ok, I take that back, I wasn't eager at all. It just made me want to punch the group even more.

"What's a sleepover without an action-packed movie? Don't worry Eddie has saved the day. I brought.. duh, duh, duh," I guessed it was his version of a 'drum-roll,' "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol!" New dude say what? "And I even brought popcorn!" Alright 'Eddie,' welcome to the group. You are now on my hit list.

The announcement was met with various levels of enthusiasm from the group of boys ranging from too much (Jerry) to little or nothing (Jack).

"Dude, I heard that movie is total swag!" Jerry, you should really stop making up words. It only brings your IQ down. "I can't wait to watch it, man!""

"Fo-shizzle!" Oh, Milton! Not you, too! Such a disappointment.

"Just pop in the movie already!" _No, please don't._

But of course, no one ever listens to the comatose girl on the hospital bed.

Someone took the remote from the infamous basket because I heard the sound of rummaging very close to my ear. I started to feel tingly because while the whole time I have been in the hospital, I don't think anyone has ever come that close to me. Well, they could have; I just, uh, wouldn't have known. Well, this is awkward.

The intro sounds to the movie started and fortunately this time, the volume was turned down low. Usually, I'm not one to judge books by their covers (in this case, movies by their titles), but I was tired and cranky and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol did not seem interesting to me.

I slowly started to drift off to sleep when, out of nowhere, a loud scream came from the corner of the room. I mentally groaned. This was going to take a while.

After more random screams that were definitely caused by the movie, I drifted off into a somewhat comfortable, peaceful sleep.

I knew it was too good to last.

I didn't know how long I slept for before suddenly the sound in the room became uber loud and woke me up from another fantastic dream about a brown-haired, brown-eyed boy. Now, let me tell you, this dream guy is amazing! He is funny, sweet, smart, athletic, and good at everything! He has shaggy brown hair that is just the right length and beautiful eyes that are the color famous Godiva chocolates. The only bad thing was that he never talked (if he did, I just don't remember), and I never figured out his name. Other than that, it's truly amazing.

Too bad it's just a dream.

Before I realized what I was doing, I started to groan. "Guys, turn it.. down!"

Almost instantly, the sound was turned down, but not before someone noticed a strange voice coming from the bed on the other side of the room.

"Jerry? Jerry, wake up!" Now that I think about it, the sound probably got turned up because Jerry (what a nutcase) fell asleep and collapsed onto the remote, accidentally hitting the volume.

"Wha- what?" Just so you know, when I say 'nutcase,' I really mean nutcase.

"Did- did you say anything? Like, you know, about turning the TV down?" Jack started to sound a little sheepish.

"Dude, no way! You know I love the pimpin' sound of HD speakers! It's total swag, yo." Jerry, you amaze me sometimes, and not always in a good way.

"Well somebody said something!" Jack paused. "Maybe it was Milton or Eddie." Yay, way to get them involved.

"No way, man! They're sound asleep, like babies after a warm bottle of milk."

"Have I ever told you that you worry me sometimes?" You and me both kid, you and me both.

"Maybe it was Kim?" Jerry asked nonchalantly.

My brain was wide awake by that point in the conversation. They couldn't find out it was me! I wasn't ready! I needed to be still unconscious; I didn't want to wake up yet! Don't be fooled people- hospital beds are actually comfortable!

"Well, the lights seem to be on, but I don't think anyone is actually home." What does that even mean? And how does that even relate to the topic at hand? "No, I'm serious Jerry. It couldn't be her, she hasn't moved in weeks." Atta boy, Jack! Way to handle the situation.

"Well, all the more reason that it's a possibility that it could be her! I mean, c'mon! It's about time she made some movement!" Really, Spanish-lover? Now's the time to become smart?

The 'Jack' kid sighed. "Maybe you're right. Wow! I never thought that I'd actually say that!" There was a moment of silence followed by a punch and a laugh. "Ow! Let's just go over there and see if any evidence is shown that it was Kim."

_Could this get any worse?_

The guys didn't even bother tiptoeing, much less walk silently. They pretty much were as loud as they could've been, naturally. I heard Jack and Jerry walk up to my bed and then come to a dead stop, probably checking for 'clues' and whatnot.

I tried to be as quiet as possible, focusing all my energy into even breaths. The only sound in the room was heart monitor that produced even beeps, which made me happy considering the last time I heard it, it was flat lining and I had blacked out for a week, maybe more.

"Maybe you should try talking to her again," Jerry said softly. _No, that would not be a good idea! I don't even know you and you're trying to make a move on me? Lame._

"Kim?"

It was weird because whenever Jack said my name it felt weirdly… nice? I don't know, it just seemed… natural for him I guess. It was like he had always said it, which was unusual because I have never met him in my life and I was sure of that.

"Kim, can you hear me?" _Yes! _ I wanted to say. _And you, Jack, are actually starting to annoy me! Can't you just let me sleep- _That's when I felt it. Something actually was touching my shoulder, and I think it was Jack's hand. I was about to mentally scream at him when I started to feel jittery and tingly, like a million little lightning bolts were zapping me. _What is happening to me? _I thought. Usually I only felt that way when I was around someone who I liked, but obviously that couldn't be the reason here. I've never seen or heard about this 'Jack' kid and for all I knew he could be butt-ugly, or worse; not that I could think of 'worse' at the moment. My head still hurt pretty badly when I thought too hard.

"Kim, if you can hear me, I want you to let us know by making a noise or something."

No matter how much I wanted to move (staying in the same position while your awake for a long time is hard), I couldn't bring myself to do it.

After several minutes of just plain nothing, Jack and Jerry (I actually forgot he was there) gave up. "Well, I guess you were right, bro. She's not 'with us.'" I pictured Jerry making the finger-quotations around the words "with us," and I smiled to myself, hoping that it wasn't noticeable.

Apparently not because I heard the guys walk back over to the couch making as much noise as they did coming over here, and the _thump _of them falling onto the cushions.

Finally, they were gone. After all of this "pretending to be unconscious" business, my tiredness caught up with me. I relaxed my sore muscles and concentrated on controlling my breathing and for the second time that day, I fell into a peaceful sleep.

_That's it, I'm done with this. I'm tired of being immovable and I just want to get out of this place. _I decided that I was finally going to admit to myself that I was better and was finally going to "wake up."

Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't planning on just waking up out of the blue like everything was back to normal. In fact, I had this really complicated process planned out that involved tears and a chocolate milkshake. But that's not how it ended up happening. I was in the middle of one of my "cute-boy" dreams (which I seemed to being having a lot of lately), when, for the first time since I can remember, I woke up naturally. Not by loud noises, not by pain, nothing. It was nice.

My only problem was that I started stirring once I woke up and because the hospital bed did not allow me to sit up on my own, I was struggling and making weird noises. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I heard people running up to my bed like a herd of cattle.

Everyone was talking at the same time. Everyone meaning Jack, Jerry, Milton, and Eddie.

"Guys!" Someone hissed, "Let the doctor through!" Oh, and the occasional doctor.

For the second time that day, I blinked my eyes open, except this time I prepared myself for the burning of the light.

Lying on my back, I opened my eyes all of the way and took account of five people crowded around me: one, professional-looking doctor, and four teenage boys. The group of guys stared at me like they were waiting for a magic trick or something and to be honest, they scared me. What was I supposed to do? Pull a long chain of colorful cloths from my sleeve that just happened to be tied together? I don't think so.

The doctor pressed a button on a little remote that had a cord attached to the bed, and slowly I began to rise into a sitting position.

Next, the doc gave me some pills and a glass of water. I took them reluctantly and fortunately she noticed my concern. "It's alright, Kim, they're just pain relievers," she said with a smile.

Well, that's a relief. I nodded and immediately swallowed the pills and ended with a giant sip of water, pretty much chugging the whole thing. I didn't realize how long it had been before I drank or ate anything until the water reached my parched throat and it felt like heaven.

I gave the glass back to the doctor and smiled. "Thank you," I said, gratefully. She nodded and then said, "If you need anything, just let one of these boys know," she gestured to the four creepers, "they've been a big help with everything." And then she walked out of the room.

I was smiling like an idiot in the direction of the door until it was shut all of the way and once I heard the _click_, my visage turned into a frown and I started to examine the boys from left to right.

On the far left, there was a scrawny, pale boy with reddish-brownish hair, and he was dressed, well, I wouldn't say unattractively but… he was wearing a yellow and black argyle sweater vest with a blue shirt underneath, and I couldn't see his pants. _Total nerd. _

The next guy was a somewhat short African-American and at least he had better tastes in clothing. And, I don't want to be mean but, he seemed a little huskier than the first guy.

After the shorty, the next boy was huge! He was literally 6 feet tall and I actually had to tilt my head up to look at his face. That little action right there made my neck hurt so I winced and pulled it back down. The guy looked like he was about to say something and because I didn't really want to hear what he had to say, I held my hand up in a 'stop' motion, which actually made him snap his mouth shut.

After I finished examining Gigantor, I moved on to the next kid. I was about to examine him the same way I examined the others but in the middle of studying the way he looked, dressed, etc., something about him made me freeze.

I had seen this guy before but I couldn't figure out where, though. I was thinking really hard when, suddenly, something in my head snapped, and my eyes widened. I _had _seen him before. The hair, the eyes, it all made sense now.

He was my dream guy.

**Ok, there was chapter one. I don't know how I feel about the ending and if you have any suggestions, I'll change it. Like I said, I'm new at this and I don't know what is good or not.**

**I know I wrote Jack's last name as Anderson and it's not that I'm copying anyone (because I read a lot of stories that use that last name), it's just that I think it fits perfectly.**

**Thanks for taking the time to read it! And if you have any ideas just tell me and I can fit them in! Please Review and Comment! Thank you so, so, so, so much! (:**

**-ecStarz**

**P.S- I don't know how often I'll be able to update because I'm on winter break right now and I'll get a lot busier once school starts again. But don't worry… I'll write in my free time and update ASAP!;)**


	3. Chapter 2 The Reason Why

**A/N: Hello, everyone! Here's the 2****nd**** chapter of ****Something's Forgotten**** , and I want to thank you all for your reviews and comments! **

**I'm sorry that it took me a little longer to upload than it did the first two times, it's just that I've been busy with New Year's stuff and this particular chapter involved a lot of research, so I hope you enjoy.**

**I know some of you think it was weird that I called Jerry a giant but that was only because of his height. I looked online to see how tall he really was and it said 5'9, and I automatically assumed that was tall. I'm short so I think pretty much anyone who is over 5'5 is tall, so I'm sorry.**

**One more thing I want to say: I feel like I'm not going to be able to live up to your expectations. I got so many nice reviews on the prologue and I'm just afraid that future chapters won't do it justice. So, I apologize in advance if it's not what you're expecting.**

**Anyway, on to the story.**

**Chapter Two**

This is all wrong. It must be a mistake. I mean, one of the guys that have been driving me crazy for _weeks _happens to be, or at least looks like, the boy that I have been dreaming about? Is that even possible?

I must have zoned out or had been in some sort of trance because before I knew it, one of the dudes started waving their hand rapidly in front of my face trying to get my attention, and frankly, it was making me dizzy.

Closing my eyes, I shook my head quickly. _It's just a dream. It's just a dream. _ I cautiously opened them again, only to find everyone staring at me like I just grew another head, which had a third eye. Gaining awareness that it was, in fact, real life, I just stared back at them with a look that asked 'do you want something?'

The boys just continued to stare at me blankly, so I took the chance to look around the room for the first time, careful not to make eye contact with the look-alike of the guy that kept appearing in my dreams. I didn't want to have any more awkward encounters.

Looking around, I noticed that the walls were all white, with an occasional poster of "health" promotion hung here and there. The ceiling and walls, however, were vibrantly colored with different shades of blue, orange, and green, and there was a _huge _window on the far wall that looked-

"Why won't you talk to us?"

It took me several moments to figure out that the kid was talking to me. "Hm, what?" I asked, turning around to face them.

"It's been about ten minutes since you have awakened from your coma and you haven't said one word to us," argyle-sweater-wearing kid said, looking at his watch. Wait a minute, that voice! It- it was the voice of the five-year-old! _Milton! The boy with the argyle sweater vest was Milton! _I studied Milton for a second time, and as I looked him up and down, I realized that his name was perfect for his outfit, voice, and his personality. _Note: Find out more about Milton and figure out what his personality is really like._

Someone cleared their throat and, once again, I was forced out of my trance. "Kim?" I turned my head slowly to the source of the voice because it was _that _voice again- _Jack's voice. _ I was scared to find out which appearance his voice belonged to because a voice like his shouldn't belong to a person who is six feet tall or a shorty either. It's not like I have a problem with peoples' height, it's just that I had a clear picture of Jack's appearance with his voice and neither one of those descriptions was an option. Then again, I don't know how I should feel if it just so happens that 'Jack' is my dream person because if it is then I wouldn't know what to say and everything would just be so awkward. _Oh, hey! We've never met but I've seen you before… in my dreams. _Yeah, that wouldn't be creepy at all.

It seemed like everything was moving in slow motion. I finished the rotation of my head, and much to my surprise (though, it wasn't _really _a surprise), my eyes landed on dream boy.

I groaned loudly and brought my hands up to my face so they covered my eyes. So it was _Jack_! The always sensible one; the one who had the calming voice; the one who made me tingly when he touched my shoulder; the one who kept entering my dreams. _I should've known._

Slowly, I inched my hands down my face so my eyes could peek out over my fingertips, and I examined Jack like I had for the rest of them. All I had to notice was his shirt, and I covered my eyes back up.

He wore the same outfit here, in my hospital room, like he had in my dream. Like I asked before, is this even _possible_?

"Kim, what's wrong?" I removed my hands from my face to find Jack staring at me with concerned eyes. _That's a great question._

I closed my eyes to avoid getting lost in his Godiva chocolate ones and I groaned. "What's wrong? I don't _know_! I have so many questions and I doubt Mr. Smarty-pants over there can even answer them." I blindly pointed in the direction of Milton.

Milton gasped. "Try me!"

I opened my eye again and let them wander around. "Ok, first question, where the heck am I?"

"Why, Kim! You're in room number 7B in the O'Connor Hospital. Address: 2030 Forest Ave., San Jo-"

"Thanks, Milton," I said, shaking my head. "Second, how did I get here?"

"By an ambulance!" The tall kid said excitedly, and I looked up at the ceiling.

"Jerry, I think she means what happened to get put in the hospital," Jack said quietly. Ok, so the tall kid is Jerry, and that means the short one is Eddie. I'm glad I got this all figured out now.

"Oh!" _Oh, my God._

Everyone looked at Jack, like they were expecting something. "Jack, would you like to tell her?" Milton asked.

Jack shook his head. "No," he said sheepishly, "you can start." Well, Jack looked like he had something to hide but what was it? Then I remembered. About the first time I was "awake" in my coma, I remembered Jack talking to Jerry about a situation. I don't know what that situation was but maybe this had something to do with it.

Milton shrugged and started with the story of how I ended up in the hospital, but I was only half listening. I was too busy trying to figure out how Jack related to me being in the hospital.

It wasn't until Milton acknowledged a 'Rudy' that I started listening. "… and Rudy wanted to congratulate us, so he took us on a camping trip to Bear Lake and-"

I held my hand up. "Hold on, Rudy?" I asked, confused. _Who on earth was 'Rudy?'_

Apparently Milton didn't take my hint because he just nodded and said, "Yeah, Rudy," and continued on with the story. That's when I wondered how much of this story was actually true. I was sure that I would've remembered someone named 'Rudy.'

I rolled my eyes and kept listening.

"- and we discovered that there was a ski resort there, near the lake, and Jack," he gestured to Jack, "suggested we should go. You were a little bit hesitant at first because you said that you've 'never skied or snowboarded before,' and then Jack said that he would teach you and then blah, blah, blah, you know how the lesson went."

I nodded like I knew what he was talking about when clearly I had no idea.

"After about an hour of the lesson, you said that you were ready to try an 'actual' mountain but Jack wasn't so sure. You being, _yourself_, you persisted, and Jack being, well _himself_, he agreed and took you to a mountain coded green which is one of the easy ones. You said you could have handled a blue one at least, but Jack won that particular argument."

I looked at Jack, but he wasn't looking anywhere except the ground, so I knew it must've been true. Still, I didn't know how I ended up in the hospital. "Ok, go on."

"Well, on the green slope, you fell a couple times so I guess it was a good thing Jack forced you on it and not the blue one. Anyway-"

"Wait, where were you guys during all of this?" I asked.

Milton sort of tilted his head and looked confused. "We were with you and Jack the whole time, Kim." His face turned thoughtful. "Well, except Eddie. He was in the lodge most of the time doing and/or eating Lord knows what." Milton turned serious again. "But that's not the point."

I looked at Eddie and when I noticed that his cheeks were slightly pink, I slightly smiled. I could picture him doing that. I turned back to Milton. "Ok, sorry."

"Yeah," Milton said, still a little confused around the edges. "Anyway, after you succeeded on the green hill a few times, you told Jack that you were ready to try the blue hill. He was still a little uncertain but in the end he agreed. So you, me, Jack, Jerry, and Rudy," _Who is Rudy? _"all headed toward the ski lift and since only three people could ride at a time, the first ride was you, Jack, and Jerry, with you in the middle, and then Rudy and I were in the following ride."

I wondered how Milton got so good at telling stories because I couldn't wait to hear how this one ended.

"Since we were in the cart behind you, I don't know what you guys were talking about but when I asked Jack and Jerry about it later, they said that you were overexcited and little conceited, and then Jack added that deep down, you were probably terrified."

I raised my eyebrows. I was pretty sure Milton had some of the details wrong because I rarely get scared. If he's going to make up stories, he at least needs to get his facts straight first.

"Then, as if the ride up the mountain wasn't long enough, the ski lift broke down and we were hanging over the trees for about a half an hour." Interesting. "Later rather than sooner, the lift started up again, and in about fifteen-ish minutes, we arrived at the top of the mountain. We got out of our seats, skied over to the place where you start the hill, and we all lined up one by one. Rudy and Jerry started and once they were a good distance down the mountain, I went after them. Jack said that you wanted to go first but he made you stay behind with him. He wanted to be with you in case you weren't comfortable going by yourself. Apparently you said you could 'handle' it, but he wouldn't take no for an answer."

So, Jack is a stubborn one, eh? _Great._

"You and Jack started down the mountain very slowly, and he was right beside you in case you happened to fall."

"Thanks, Milton, I'll take it from here."

Milton looked stunned. "Are you sure?"

Jack let out a deep breath. "Yeah, I think so." He looked up from the ground and stared right at me. I tried escaping from the lock of his eyes but I was too slow. We made eye contact and I was lost in melted chocolate, so I had no choice but to listen to every word he said.

"We were slowly skiing down the slope when you said you wanted to go faster. I didn't think it was a good idea but you seemed confident, so I let you go on your own." Jack paused in the story to shake his head. "You were doing alright when we came to the ledge, so I asked you if you were ok. You said you were fine; that it wasn't as hard as you thought it would be. I forced a smile and was starting to ski over the ledge to finish off the hill when you called my name and stopped me. I glided to a stop and turned around. You hadn't come after me, you were still behind about ten feet. I asked you what was wrong and you answered 'where are you going?' That answer-slash-question made me think before answering. I didn't know what to say, so I said dumbly, 'to finish the rest of the slope? We still have like a half-mile to go.' You stuttered, 'this wasn't it? We have more?' which made me even more confused. I asked you if you needed my help and you shook your head and said that you'd race me down, and then you skied pass me, almost falling over in the process."

"Oh, Kim! Why did you race him? You've never skied before! You should've known this would happen!" Ok, you people are getting on my last nerves, especially with making up stories about skiing. If there is one thing I know, I have never skied in my life before, and I plan to keep it that way.

"But you managed to stay on your feet-" _Wow, way to go, me! _ "- so I thought 'what the hey?' and I started to race you down the hill. Me being the awesome skier that I am, it wasn't long before I passed you." Wow, and you called me conceited? "I had started laughing because I knew it would make you mad and when I turned my head around to see if you noticed, you were nowhere in sight."

Well, that can't be good. I have to admit, I was getting intrigued.

Jack sighed. "I gradually came to a stop near the tree line, wondering how far back you were, when I saw you flying down the hill screaming 'ahhhh!' I was laughing so hard until I noticed where you were heading. Right in front of me was a _lump _of something and at first I didn't know what it was, but then I realized that it was person who had recently fallen down, and he or she was in your path of destruction."

I wanted to laugh but I thought better of it. He looked genuinely hurt when he told the story, and I didn't want to ruin his acting performance.

"I tried to stop you but you were going too fast and before I knew what was happening," Jack sighed again, "you ran right into the person and went flying through the air."

I felt my mouth drop open, for I was totally not expecting that. Quickly closing it, I nodded for him to continue.

"I tried to reach you before you hit the ground but it's not easy to get somewhere fast when you've been at a dead stop. I watched you fly for about twenty feet and then land on your upper back, but your skies were still intact, which was unbelievable because when you crash, your skies are supposed to snap off from the force, and well, that didn't happen for you." Jack shuddered. "By the time I got to you, you were buried more than halfway in the snow. After I wiped all of the snow off you, no matter how hard I tried, you wouldn't move, and no matter how many times I said your name, you wouldn't wake up. Your eyes were closed and your body was bent in a weird position. I didn't know what to do so I did the first thing that came to my mind- I stopped one of the red-vested ski patrols that was supervising the mountain. I flagged him over and I explained what happened. He carefully unstrapped your skis and propped them in the snow so it looked like a giant X-"

"Like this!" Jerry said, making an "x" with his arms that kind of looked like football's defense stance.

"Yeah, like that. Anyway, after five-ten minutes, another guy on skis came with a sled that hooked onto a belt that he was wearing, and him and the other guy carefully lifted you and set you on the sled, on your back, and then zipped you up."

"You were placed in a bag like the ones you see in crime scenes in murder movies," Eddie said, and I nodded, understanding.

"After they zipped you up, they asked me if I needed a ride down to the bottom of the mountain as well, and I said no, that I would just ski to the bottom by myself and meet you guys down there. I- I should've went with you and the skier. It would've saved a lot of mess."

"It's ok, just keep going," I said, engrossed in the story.

"I got to the bottom of the hill but I didn't see the sled or the skier that carried the sled, so I figured that I got there first and just sat on the closest bench and waited. About two minutes after I sat down, a red and blue snow mobile went zooming by with like three people crammed on board. Its lights were flashing and it was headed in the direction I came from. I immediately jumped up and skied over to the bottom of the hill where the 'exit' was, and I looked up the hill and noticed that the snow mobile picked up two new passengers- a red-vested ski patrol and red sled bag."

I took a break from listening to Jack and noticed that the story must've been so long that it became boring, because Jerry and Eddie made their way to the couch and looked exhausted.

"This is the longest story ever," I heard Jerry mumble.

I turned my attention back to Jack.

"I thought they were just going to help you down, get you some medical help, etc., but that wasn't what happened." He took a deep breath. "The ski patrol was on the way down the mountain when a _careless _snowboarder didn't watch where he was going-"

Jack was gradually getting louder and little bit more aggressive, and it was starting to scare me.

"- and he crashed into the skier, which made him tumble down the mountain, which in-turn made you become air-born _again_ and, well, the ambulance came once they got you down from the slope and carted you away to the local hospital. They couldn't do anything for you because your 'condition' was too severe, so they called this hospital and a helicopter came and we didn't see you again until we came here, the next day."

"Wow, so um, what exactly happened to me?" I asked, fidgeting with my fingers.

Jack opened his mouth to speak but Milton beat him to it. "Well, physically you shattered your tibia , your ankle, but just plain broke your femur, which, by the way, is one the hardest bones in your body to break. Mentally, I guess you could say, you had severe brain damage that affected both the Medulla Oblongata and the temporal lobe of the brain; they ruptured."

"Sorry, but English please?" I asked, dumbly.

Milton sighed theatrically. "You broke your tibia and your ankle, but instead of breaking into two pieces, like your femur, they broke into several different fragments that were disconnected. Ok, now your brain. When you fell, the first time caused it, and the second time confirmed it."

"Confirmed what?"

"Your severe brain damage! Sheesh, Kim, stay with me here," he said, rubbing his temples. "Anyway, when you landed on your head, both times, your Medulla Oblongata and temporal lobe-" He held his hand up to stop me because I had begun to open my mouth to say something, "- were crushed. The Medulla Oblongata is the top part of the brainstem-slash-spinal cord and it controls breathing, digestion, and heart and blood vessel function. It also helps transfer messages between various parts of the brain and the spinal cord. The temporal lobe controls auditory and visual perception, speech, memory, and emotional responses." Milton laughed. "What's funny is that the doctor said when she looked at the x-rays of your brain, she noticed that only a certain piece of your temporal lobe was damaged. What she can't determine, however, is what part of your mental state is affected by that wounded sector. After the surgeons finished the surgery, she said it could be anything: from slight changes in behavior, to partial memory loss of certain people or places that you've come across in your lifetime."

"So that's the story. What'd you think?" Eddie asked, as him and Jerry walked back over to the bed.

I nodded slowly. "It was a really great story, and you two told it with great feeling and emotion, and the details were very," I paused, "detailed." Milton looked proud, but Jack looked like he was going to barf. "But I need you to put your creative minds to rest while you tell me the real reason how and why I'm here."

Milton looked taken aback. "You think we made this up?"

"I _know _you made this up. Why? Because I've never been skiing in my life and even if this was true, those injuries you described were deadly and I doubt I would've survived-" I happened to look down on myself and suddenly, I froze, and could not believe what I was seeing.

My left leg was completely covered in a thick white cast that felt like- I softly knocked on it- cement, and it was slightly suspended above the bed. How the heck did I not notice that when I woke up? _You were in Dream Guy's trance. _Oh, right.

So, the broken leg part of their story was true but that didn't mean that everything else was. I thought about what Milton said about my brain and I tried to remember if there was any evidence that that happened too.

Then I remembered the headaches. _Oh, God. _Every time I thought too hard, or sometimes at just random moments, my head hurt really badly, like my brain would be exploding in a matter of minutes. I tried to think of where the pain was centered and it was at the base of my skull- I groaned- where my Medulla Oblongata was located. So that part was true, also.

I was too busy reminiscing about my injuries that I didn't hear Milton having a fit. "You know what, Kimberly?" Milton was saying, "If you don't believe us, fine! That's your problem but we are telling the truth whether you want to believe us or not!" And with that, he stomped out of the room.

"What's his problem?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why don't you believe us?" Jerry asked, totally avoiding the question.

"Because I've never gone skiing before! And even if I had, I wouldn't have gone with y'all!" I said, annoyingly, sliding my finger down the line of guys.

The boys stared at me with dumbfounded shock. "Why would you say that? We're your best friends!"

I narrowed my eyes. "No, you're not! You guys hang around my hospital room like you own it and you don't care who you disturb!" I pointed at Jerry. "You think you're an NBA all-star but you're not! And by the way, my forehead still hurts from your catastrophic remote-throw from weeks ago!" I could feel myself getting worked-up. "Y'all make so much noise, you probably couldn't hear a jet plane take off, and honestly, you guys freak me out a little! So_ don't _tell me you're my best friends because you are not!" I took a deep breath, glad to get that all off my chest.

"Kim, what are you trying to say?" Jack asked, nervously, and if I wasn't mistaken, with a look of hurt.

I turned toward him and looked into his eyes, not caring if I was going to be trapped in a trance. "What I'm saying is," I exhaled slowly, "I want you guys to get _out_ of my hospital room because I have _never_ seen you guys before_,_ and I have _no_ idea who you are, _at all_."

**Well, another chapter is done, and it's a bit longer than chapter one.**

**In case you guys are wondering, this whole skiing accident I described actually happened to me. This day, last year, I was skiing in Colorado and everything that Kim "supposedly did" in this chapter happened to me, except the injuries weren't as extreme for me as it was for her. Just a little bit of information for ya there.**

**I didn't know how to tell the "flashback" but I wanted to do it in a way where I didn't have to have a whole chapter in Jack/Milton's point-of-view. So, I hope this way is ok.**

**Like I said in the author's note of the prologue, keep reviewing if you want me to keep writing! And be honest, because it's the best policy. ;) And I am still open for suggestions!**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! And I'll talk to you all soon!**

**-ecStarz**


	4. Chapter 3 Remembering

**A/N: Hey! I'm soooooooo sorry for not updating in over a week! A whirlwind of misfortune bombarded me, so it's been awful. I've had food poisoning multiple times, and I broke my finger, so typing has been a little on the slow side.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. It's a little bit shorter than the previous chapters but oh well!**

**Chapter Three**

The room went silent after I dropped that little bombshell, and everyone had their own unique expressions. Jerry looked like he was about to cry, Eddie looked hungry, and Jack's face went through a mix of fleeting emotions, starting with a 'ha, you're kidding, right?' and ending with a 'how could you possibly forget me? I'm your best friend!'

I gave Eddie a questioning glance. "What?" He asked, a little harsher than I would've minded.

"You look… hungry," I stated stupidly.

"Don't mi- mind him," Jerry sputtered, on the verge of tears, "He always ge- gets hungry when h- he's either sad o- or confused," and then I guess his barrier broke because tears start pouring out. I couldn't tell if they were real or fake. "¡Lo siento! No me mires! Que sólo va a empeorar a partir de aquí y," he pointed at me, "que me da asco! ¡Te odio! ¿Qué quiere decir que no son tus mejores amigos? ¡Me voy de aquí!" And he ran out the door.

I stared at the door, "Was that-?" I shook my head.

"Yes, he was speaking _Spanish_, because you made him _mad_. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see if he is alright." And with that, Eddie ran out of the room as well.

There once was five, and then there was two.

There was a heavy, awkward silence in the air and I was getting tired of it. "Jack, if you want-"

Jack cut me off. "Do you really not remember me?" He asked, quietly, looking at the ground.

I sighed. "It's not that I have a problem remembering you," I saw a flicker of hope flash in his eyes, "it's that I don't know you. I can't remember someone I don't know."

Jack's face went from troubled to determined. "But I don't believe that, Kim! You _do _remember me," He paused, then recovered quickly, "I mean _us, _even if that means you have to admit to yourself that you're too stubborn-headed to realize it!"

My eyes widened at his sudden outburst. "I'm not stubborn! If anyone is, it's you!"

"Me? How am _I _stubborn?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Because you won't leave!"

That shut him up. Jack closed his eyes and slowly let out a breath, seeming like he was going to regret was he was going to say next. "Look," he appeared to have calmed down a bit, "do you remember what Milton said about partial memory loss?" I nodded. "Do you think that it's possible that the part of your," he racked his brain for the word, "temporal lobe that you damaged, was the part that kept the memories of us?"

I opened my mouth to protest but then realized that he could be right. It was a weird feeling- knowing that deep down, I might be best friends with people that I don't "remember." It made me shiver.

"You might be right," I declared, looking everywhere but him, "but even if that happened, I doubt there's any way to get my memory 'back.'"

A look of relief flooded over his slightly-tanned face, but I don't know why because that still didn't mean that I remembered him. "I'm glad you finally admit that I'm right-" I rolled my eyes, "- and I bet Milton could figure out a solution!"

"Yeah, I bet he could, too," I said playing with my fingers, "but he kind of hates me at the moment, so I doubt that he'd do anything for me right now."

Jack nodded slowly. "Yeah, probably. Maybe if you apologized.." he said, trailing off.

I sighed, clearly getting the hint. "Fine, I'll talk to him." I gestured to the door, "Go bring him back and I'll 'apologize,'" I finished, making finger-quotations.

That made him laugh. _Geez, I love that laugh_. Wait- what? Jack was halfway out the door when I remembered where I heard that laugh before. "Jack? Wait!"

He stopped and turned back to the door. "Hm?"

I couldn't bring myself to ask the question but I knew that I had to if I wanted some answers. "I know this is a stupid question… but do you have any weird abilities?" I gave a half-hearted laugh, "You know, can you like project yourself into dreams and stuff?" I looked at him, nonchalantly.

Jack walked back into the room with his hands stuffed into his jean pockets. "No, not that I know of." He looked up at the ceiling, thoughtfully. "If I can, I'm not aware of it." Tilting his head, he looked at me quizzically. "Why?"

At least he didn't laugh and run away.

_Because I've see you multiple times since I've been in the hospital but it's been in my dreams. Then when I woke up, you weren't in my dreams anymore, you were standing right there! _"No reason, just wondering." I waved my hand in the air like I was swatting a fly away. "Just go find Milton."

Jack gave me a quirky smile that made me want to die a happy death and closed the door behind him.

About ten minutes later, I heard arguing coming from the down the hall.

I slowly sat up in the bed, careful not to jolt my leg or turn my head a certain way, and waited for Milton and Jack.

"I don't care if she's _trying_," Milton was saying, "she was rude and inconsiderate!" I rolled my eyes. _Well, that's a little harsh._

"Please, Milton? Do it for us? Wouldn't it be nice to have the old Kim back? The one who is our best friend and the one that _remembers _us?"

Milton groaned. "I guess, but I don't think it will ever be the same again."

I narrowed my eyes at- well, they weren't in the room yet, so- the door. _They're wrong! _ I screamed at myself. _I am going to be able to remember, even if it kills me!_

That, I was sure of.

Milton placed his hand to his ear. "I can't hear you, Kim."

I looked down. "I'm sorry," speaking only a little bit louder than the first time.

"Speak a _little _louder; you can do this," Jack said, nudging me.

I groaned loudly. "Ok, fine! I'm _sorry_, Milton! I am sorry! Are you happy now?"

"And for what are you sorry for?" Milton asked, smirking.

"For being mean to you and to the others, and for not believing you when you actually made sense!" I covered my face to keep from screaming with sheer embarrassment.

Milton crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. "Thank you, Kim. I accept your unusually sincere apology."

I let my hands drop back into my lap and narrowed my eyes. "Thank you," I said, sarcastically, then turning completely serious. "Now, can you help me or not?"

"I'll see what I can do," Milton sighed, looking around the room. "When you do get out of here?"

"I asked the doctor and she said after several more days," I said, shaking my head.

Milton stared at me. "Define several."

"Four more days," I said, through clenched teeth. My patience was waning by the minute. "They still have to run more tests on my brain before I can leave, and they have to put a movable cast on my leg," I said, pointing to the cement wedge.

Jack patted my shoulder and I started to feel tingly again. "Milton, calm down. It's not her fault she's stuck here."

He pointed a finger at Jack. "No, it's yours."

I felt Jack's hand stiffen and freeze, so I looked up at his face. A look of guilt flashed through his chocolate eyes and for some reason I felt really bad. "It's not his fault; it could've happened to anybody."

Jack sent a baffling look my way. "What are you talking about? It was-"

"It wasn't your fault," I said slowly, raising my eyebrows, hoping he would take the hint.

He got it. "Yeah, Milton, stop blaming me!"

Milton backed off once Jack started getting defensive. I wondered if he was scared of him. "Hey, Milton," He looked at me, "are you scared of Jack?" Jack also looked at Milton, clearly wanting to know the answer.

"Well, yeah!" Milton said, not even bothering to hide his embarrassment. "Aren't you?" I shook my head. "Well, _I_ am! Jack's a nationally-ranked, extreme martial artist! Anyone who is in their right mind should be scared of Jack."

I was looking at Jack, who seemed to be pretty pleased with himself, when something Milton said came to the surface. "You take martial arts, too?" I asked, dumbfounded. "You _and_ Jerry?"

"_And_ Eddie, _and_ Milton," Jack said, pointing to the nerd. "I'm just the only great one, except- wait." A look of horror passed over his face. "You didn't know we took karate?"

I slowly shook my head. "No," I stated, holding onto the word. My eyes widened and darted back and forth from Milton to Jack. "Why, should I?"

Jack groaned, closed his eyes, and slowly ran his fingers through his hair. "Oh, boy," I heard Milton mutter, almost silently.

I just shrugged at took a bite out of my apple that Jack had brought me back from the cafeteria, having no idea what they were moaning and groaning on about.

"Let's just see how much you _do _remember," Milton said, indifferently. "Let's start with people." I nodded enthusiastically because I was actually looking forward to this. "Obviously you don't remember me, Jack, Eddie, Jerry, and Rudy, so we'll put a star next to their names," Milton said to no one in particular, marking something in a binder. _Wait! When did he get a binder? _"What about your parents?"

I thought hard and after a while, something clicked. "Yeah, I remember them. I also have a little brother and a dog," I said, taking another bite.

Jack's eyes lit up. "That's great, Kim! At least you remember something!" And I smiled.

Even Milton was impressed. "Great job! Now, what about friends from school? And any activities that you are involved in?"

I didn't have to think for that one. "I'm on the pep squad and I'm a straight-A student, and my best friend is Grace. We've done everything together."

Jack leaned over to whisper in Milton's ear. "I guess she really doesn't remember us! She's blocked us out of her head! She and Grace haven't spoken since the Ricky Weaver incident."

He didn't whisper silently enough. "Hey, Ricky Weaver is a shlum and a weirdo and a phsycho and any other insult you can think of." I looked down at my apple that I was having a hard time finishing.

Jack smiled. Why? _I don't know_. "He's a private jet-flyin'-San Francisco burger byin'-hot tubbin'-doll haired-monster. I think that's what you meant to say," and he playfully punched my shoulder.

I didn't know if he was kidding or not, but that sentence sounded really familiar to me. "Jack, where did you get that 'phrase' or whatever? TV, radio, anything?" He looked at me, confused, and shook his head. "It sounds _so_ familiar, but I can't remember where I heard it from!"

"I said that to you!"

"When?"

"After you accused me of calling him a monster because I was 'jealous!'" Jack threw his hands up, exasperated.

I shook my head. "I don't remember that, but congrats," I patted him on the shoulder, "I really like that word usage. I think I'll use that to describe Ricky from now on."

For the second time that day, Jack ran his hands through his hair and let out a deep breath. "Kim, you're really starting to worry me."

"Why?"

"Because when I said that to you, you said that it was just a big bowl of word salad! And now you say that you like it!"

"I'm pretty sure that conversation was imaginary. I can't picture myself saying something like that."

Now Milton was getting annoyed. "Ok, Jack and Kim, we can pretend that this discussion either did or did not happen, but can we please stick to the topic at hand?"

"Yeah," Jack and I mumbled simultaneously.

"Great, now back to our list," he clicked his pen, "You remember your family, dog, Grace, Pep Squad, grades, and Ricky Weaver." After he said each item, he crossed it off. "Now, can you remember any places that you love to go to?"

I thought for a couple minutes and I started to name things on my fingers. "School because I love to see my friends, the mall, the gym, and…" I knew there was another place that I loved to go to but I couldn't put my finger on it. _Oh! _ "… and Grace's house because it's awesome!" I started to laugh but stopped after seeing the looks on Jack and Milton's faces. "What?"

Milton was busy checking stuff off the list so Jack started to speak. "What part of the mall do you like to visit?" At this question, Milton looked up from his notebook.

"I like to go to all the clothing stores, duh! Also, the Apple store because I like to play on the iPads, and I _occasionally _like to go to Falafel Phil's, but only on special days." Jack's expression didn't change. "Why?"

Jack looked heartbroken. "Are you sure those are all the places you like in the mall?"

"Yes, and again I ask, why?" Now I was the one that was getting irritated. The least they could do is give me some answers.

"No reason," and I saw Milton make a motion with his pen that looked like a star.

"Hey, what are you putting a star by? What am I not remembering?"

Jack grabbed both my shoulders (yay, electrocuting feeling again!) and shook them. "The Dojo, Kim! You can't remember the freakin' _dojo_!"

What on earth is he talking about? "Um, the dojo?"

Jack looked into my eyes, and soon I was drowning in Godiva chocolates. I swear he could like see into my soul or something. "The Bobby Wasabi Dojo!"

"Who the heck is Bobby Wasabi?" I asked, carefully searching Jack's face. "He _is_ a person, right?" Another name, another star.

Jack slowly let go of my shoulders, and soon the tingly sensation was gone. _Darn._ He turned to Milton. "Milton, we have a problem."

**Well, there's the long-awaited Chapter Three. I don't like the ending. I usually like to end with a cliffhanger but I couldn't think of one for this chapter so this will have to do.**

**Again, I want to apologize for keeping you waiting, and I hope you all don't hate me.**

**Remember: Review and Comment with honesty if you want me to keep writing! THANKS!**

**-ecStarz**


	5. Chapter 4 Dreaming

**A/N: Ok, so you guys probably hate me, so I want to apologize a million times! 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry' x 999,999,995 more. I've literally been staring at a blank sheet of paper for the past month. It's just been hard to come up with ideas for this chapter, so add that to my insanely busy schedule and you get an update that was 5 weeks too late.**

**I want to thank y'all for the reviews! It's a motivation for me to keep writing… so reviews=more updates. **

**I really don't know what else to say except that I'm really sorry and hopefully updates will be faster from here on out!**

**Anyway, read on!**

**Chapter 4**

It turned out that Bobby Wasabi was a famous martial artist/actor in action films that the guys' karate sensei, Rudy, was absolutely obsessed with; not that I cared one way or another.

As Milton started to finish up Bob's life story, I could feel myself becoming increasingly tired with every word. It was getting so bad that I had to cut Milton off.

"Milton, as much as I would love to hear about the stupendous life of Mr. Bob," I paused to yawn, "I am really sleepy and I would appreciate it if you would… let me… sleep," and as if in slow motion, I fell back onto my pillow and headed off into a dream-like state.

"That's fine, Kim," I heard Milton say as if he was standing far away, "but you do realize that it's only 5:30 p.m., right?"

_What, that can't be right! _ And suddenly, I was taken over by a wave of darkness.

My eyes popped open to reveal Jack leaning over me with a placid expression on his face. "Jack? What are you-?" My voice trailed off when I noticed that I wasn't in the hospital room anymore, but outside where it was sunny and an amazing 74 degrees. It wasn't too hot, but it wasn't too chilly either, and- _what am I saying? _"Jack, what am I doing outside?"

I waited for an answer but got none.

Instead, Jack backed away slowly and turned around. "Jack, wait!" Forgetting my injuries, I sat up rather quickly and then braced myself for pain. When none came, I looked down at myself and gasped. The cast that seemed to be a permanent part of my leg had vanished and my body seemed to be pain-free. I hesitantly rubbed the back of my neck, expecting to feel pain but when I didn't feel anything again, I really started to freak out. "Jack!"

I pulled myself up to a standing position, and when I realized that the pain was nowhere to be found, I broke out into a run in the direction Jack was running towards.

I ran for what seemed like hours; weaving in and out of trees, jumping over fallen trees, and occasionally tripping over rocks. Coming upon a clearing in the woods, I slowed to a walk and saw Jack perched upon a boulder, facing, well, I couldn't exactly tell what he was staring at, but he was facing away from me.

As I started to walk up to Jack, the breath-taking scenery stopped me in my tracks. There was a large lake that was filled with ice-blue water and pink flowers surrounded the lake. They were too exotic for me to even consider thinking about what they were called. To the left of the lake was a beautiful waterfall that fell over three tiers and was being silently absorbed into the water at the bottom. Rocks were stacked neatly unorganized, because even though they sat uneven on top of each other, the whole look appeared rather stunning.

"Jack?" I said, kind of out of it. "What is this place?" No answer. "Jack," I said, walking in front of the boulder of which he sat on. "Jack, why won't you say anything?"

Searching his face for answers, I noticed that his eyes were glazed over as he sat staring ahead at the waterfall. He didn't blink, he didn't twitch, and I don't even think he was breathing.

"Jack," I said, reluctantly putting my hand on his shoulder, "is there something you'd like to tell me?" When my hand connected with his shoulder, he sort of snapped out of his trance and turned his head to stare at me with those Godiva chocolate eyes of his. He smiled, hopped off of his rock, and started to walk down toward the place where the water met the rocky land.

"Wait, where are you going?" I called after him, gratuitously of course, because I obviously didn't expect to get an answer from him. He hadn't said anything since I woke up.

Jack paused for a second to give me the 'c'mon' motion with his hand and continued down to the lake. When he arrived, he just stood motionless next to the water, his toes barely getting wet.

"What on earth are you doing?"

Even though he didn't move or say anything that would have given me answers as to what he _was _doing, something told me that I should go down to the water and see what he was staring at.

I carefully made my way down to the water, took my spot next to Jack, and looked out over the lake at the scenery. I really had to admit, it was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I had to say something about it. "Jack, this is beautiful."

I turned my head to look at the brown-haired boy and noticed that he was staring at the water's surface. Slowly his arm came up and he pointed to where he was staring. My eyes instinctively followed.

At first I couldn't see anything except the rocks at the bottom but then I could make out the shapes of me and Jack just standing there.

Feeling dumb and not knowing what else to say, I blurted, "Hey, that's us!" and I playfully nudged his shoulder, knocking him slightly off balance. Jack smiled and stared into my eyes for a minute and I felt my heart skip a beat. _What is happening to me? _One second I was in the hospital room and now I was in the middle of nowhere. Sure, it was extremely beautiful, but it was still nowhere.

Jack turned back to the water and for some reason I felt a little disappointed. I, myself, also turned back to the water and had to do a double-take. Jack and I weren't the only ones in the reflection anymore, but instead we were surrounded by the other boys who were apparently named Eddie, Jerry, and Milton. Jack was in the middle with Eddie and Jerry on his left and me and Milton on the right. He had his arm swung around mine and Jerry's shoulders and my hand automatically flew to my shoulder where Jack's hand should've been, but instead I only felt the fabric of my shirt. _What the-?_

As I turned around to demand an explanation, Jack was nowhere to be found. I shook my head and stared back at the reflection until something caught my eye. From the outside to the inside, each person started to disappear; starting with Eddie and Milton, then Jerry, and then Jack vanished, leaving only me with a pained expression on my face.

_Was Jack trying to tell me something?_

I slowly sank onto the rock, dumbfounded, when the sound of a branch snapping behind me made me jump. I hopped up and whirled around to see who scared me half-to-death, when I came face to face with Jack. I decided I wanted some answers.

"Ok, mister, I want some answers and I want them now!" I stomped my foot on the ground like a five-year-old who was having a tantrum to add more effect.

Jack just simply shrugged and sat down on the rock next to mine.

Honestly, I didn't know what to do at that moment because I hadn't planned out anything past the tantrum. I thought he would run, or walk, away. Oh, well.

I took a deep breath and sat next to him. "Ok, first, why won't you say anything to me?"

Jack laughed his amazing laugh and collapsed onto his back so he was staring at the sky. He put his arms behind his head and gazed into my eyes, and feeling just a tad bit uncomfortable, I sighed and looked down at my hands. I was going to have to get answers out of him the old fashioned way.

Standing up so I could tower over him, I started to reach down to shake some sense into him, when something unbelievable happened. At the moment where I was supposed to grab his shoulders, my hand just went through him and came in contact with the rock. I snapped back up to a standing position like I just burned my hand on the stove or something. My mind was telling me to back away but a part of me still wanted to know what was going on. I hesitantly reached down to lay a hand on his shoulder but there wasn't anything there! My hand went straight to the rock. It's like he was a hologram or a ghost or something.

I threw my hands up in exasperation and sat back down on the rock. _Now what's happening? _I thought, confused. _I touched him earlier and he felt it, so what changed?_

After staring at the water for a few minutes, I turned to face Jack to find him smiling at me. "What are you smiling at?" I asked with some edge. My annoyance level was peaking by the second.

For some reason, my question startled him, or at least made him upset because he then jumped off and ran away, running at like twenty-five miles per hour, which is like impossible for a human.

I groaned, pulled my legs up to my chest, and buried my face into my knees. This whole situation was creepy and to make matters worse, I was having the strangest sense of _d__é__ja-vu_. It was almost like one of my- _that's it!_

I quickly raised my head up from my knees and smiled. It all made sense now! Why I was at a scenic waterfall, why I was pain-free, and why Jack didn't say anything. It was all a _dream_.

Jumping off my rock, I ran in the direction Jack was heading. "Jack, wait! I'm sorry!" I didn't think he could hear me, but it was worth a shot.

I ran for what seemed like hours and since there weren't any clues to where Jack could've gone, I was about to give up. As I slowed to a walk and tried to see through the trees in the distance, I saw the outlines of buildings. _Buildings!_ I started to run again, weaving in and out of the trees, and by the time I reached the pavement of the parking lot, I was out of breath. I don't think I had ever run that far for that long in my whole life. It was a great source of adrenaline.

After surveying the area, I came to the conclusion that I was standing in the courtyard of the mall. How is that even possible? The courtyard is in the center of the mall and I just came from a forest- I looked in the direction where I had run from, but instead of a vast forest, I was surrounded by buildings. _What the-?_

I started to walk around the mall and I discovered that it seemed unusually quiet. Oddly enough, I was the only one in the whole entire mall. I wondered why Jack had run, or least _led_ me, to this place. I was wandering around aimlessly when I stopped to take a seat on a bench that was coincidentally in front of Falafel Phil's.

I sat down and waited for Jack, even though I didn't think he was going to show his face again. Sighing, I scanned my eyes over the buildings that were in front of me that included a reptile store, a karate dojo, one of my all-time favorite clothing stores, and _wait just a darn minute._ Did I say karate dojo? I quickly whipped my head back toward the direction of the dojo and just glared at it, not knowing exactly what to do. So _that _must've been the dojo that Milton and Jack were talking about- the dojo of Bobby What's-his-face.

I was about to jump up and run very far away from this place when I felt the presence of someone sitting next to me. Not thinking whatsoever, I instinctively grabbed the person's arm and flipped him over my shoulder onto the ground at my feet. Staring down at my 'stalker,' I face-palmed. It was Jack.

"Jack, don't scare me like that!" I said, genuinely apologetic. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you. I-" The sparkle in his eye made me stop in the middle of my apology. "What?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Jack shook his head, still not saying a word, and picked himself up off the ground. I was about to ask him another question when he grabbed my arm and flipped me over his shoulder and onto my back, just like I did him no more than thirty seconds before.

"OW! What was that for?" I questioned, when realization hit me. I just flipped a person who is bigger than me over my shoulder. I flipped Jack _over _my _shoulder_! My eyes widened as I scrambled up to my feet. "Did I-? And you-? Flip- and land-?" I was having a difficult time getting the words out.

The boy just smiled widely and nodded like a bobble-head. _Jerk, _I thought, jokingly.

Jack turned and started to walk away from me. "Jack, wait! You _cannot _walk away from me three times in one day!" I called, and chased after him. I followed Jack until he came to a stop and looked at the building in which he was stopped in front of. I let out a groan. It was the dojo. I swear, this thing was haunting me or something.

He started to walk into the dojo but when he realized that I wasn't following him anymore, he turned to face me and tilted his head with a quizzical expression.

"Nah, I'm good," I said, holding my hands up in a 'surrendering' position. "You just- uh- go on without me and I'll wait here." I gestured to the courtyard to add effect to my statement.

Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head. He walked up to me, grabbed my hand, which, even though it was Dream World, sent the familiar tingly sensations throughout my body, and attempted to pull me towards the doors. "No! I am _not _going in there."

Jack narrowed his eyes and pulled with way more force than he did the first time and I tripped over my own feet. That made him forget how serious he was 'supposed' to be and he laughed. Still, he tugged my arm, and since I wasn't about to get into a fight, I let him lead me into the dojo. _Gosh, he is stubborn. _I decided to make an effort to tell him that.

"You know, Jack, I'm not going to take back what I said before." Another questioning glance was sent my way. "About you being stubborn? You are _so _stubborn." Jack just slightly smiled and shrugged and led me to a blue bench in the middle of the room.

"Why did you take me here, Jack?" No answer. "Is there something you want to tell me?" Jack just sat down next to me, staying silent, looking almost… heartbroken? "Can you tell me what I'm doing here? Can you tell me what I'm supposed to remember?" Jack shook his head. "God, Jack! How am I supposed to remember anything when you won't talk and-or give me any answers!" I didn't mean to take my anger out on him; I was just getting frustrated. Jack seemed to realize this, so he just patted my shoulder, stood up, and walked to a door, which I assumed led to the locker rooms. He quietly went in and left me alone with my thoughts.

Now that it was just me, myself, and I, I decided to take a look around this mysterious place called the 'dojo.' I walked over to a shelf that had a lot of trophies placed on it, and I noticed that some of them were awarded to Rudy, and some were awarded to the 'Wasabi Warriors,' whoever they were. Next to the shelf was a wall filled with picture frames that held group pictures. One had giant letters that spelled 'WASABI WARRIORS' underneath it. Ok, well that answered that question. Taking a closer look at the picture, I observed that everyone who visited me at the hospital was there- Eddie on the far left, then Jerry, then Milton, then Jack, and then- I froze. What was I doing in that group picture? I didn't even know them until either today or yesterday (with the whole coma thing, it's really hard to keep tract of time), and for an even better question- what was my picture doing in a karate dojo? I had never taken martial arts. Never have, never will.

I traced my pointer finger along the edge of the picture frame trying to make sense of it all, but no matter hard I tried, I couldn't figure out any reasonable explanation. My finger made its way around the frame but when it came in contact with the gold lettering, my head exploded with pain and I wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. Like a show behind my eyelids, pictures flew across, telling stories. There were images of the dojo, karate practice, and a fat guy who I assumed to be Bobby Wasabi, and they were all flying by at a record pace. I could barely keep up with them.

The pain slowly eased and I opened my eyes to find Jack staring at me with a hopeful expression. "This… is us," I said, rather stupidly, pointing to the picture, "and… this," I gestured to the dojo, "this is the Bobby Wasabi Dojo, right?"

Jack nodded with the biggest smile that I'd seen on his face all day and I couldn't help but feel a little pleased.

But that feeling vanished when darkness started to close in around me and Jack was getting farther and farther away. _Now what's happening? _ was my last thought before the blackness overtook me.

I slowly opened my eyes to reveal Jack and Milton leaned over me with worried expressions on their faces. "Kim, are you ok?" Jack asked, anxiously. "Is something wrong?"

I rubbed my eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them, and yawned. "No, I'm fine. It's just…" I trailed off.

"Kim…?"

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. "It's just that I remember."

I don't know if Jack and Milton passed a look of excitement or not because I couldn't see them, but I figured they did. "What do you remember?" Milton asked, calmly.

"I remember the Dojo."

**Well, there's long-awaited Chapter 4 and I hope it was worth the wait. If it's not, then that's just another 'Sorry' added to the list.**

**As I read over it, I got the feeling that it might be a little confusing, so if you have any questions, just PM me or put it in the comments/reviews.**

**One more thing before I let you go. I recently came across and old Disney TV show that I used to love when I was younger, called **_**Recess.**_** I absolutely love it because it brings back old memories from my 'childhood.' What I was wondering is that do you think that I should make a fanfic about it? I only will if you guys want me to! (If yes, then please tell me some suggestions too!)**

**So…. Keep reviewing if you want me to keep writing! THANKS! :)**

**-ecStarz**


	6. Chapter 5 Even More Questions

**A/N: Hey! So here's Chapter 5 of my story. I hope you like it and I'm sorry that it took a while to update. I've been really busy and yeah. I don't have a better reason than that… so I'm sorry if I lost any readers while I was gone.**

**Anyway, keep reviewing and I hope you all will enjoy this next chapter!**

**Chapter Five**

Five _extremely_ painful days later, I was out of the hospital and back on my way to doing the norm of things. Well, not really. I was restricted to a wheelchair and a neck brace that snaked its way down my back and Velcro-ed around my waist. The truth? Pure agony and, nevertheless, cruelty. I swear, one day I'm going to find the person who invented these death traps and put them in it and see how they like it.

What made that week even more annoying was that Milton, who ended up telling Eddie and Jerry about the whole 'dojo' thing and eventually joined in, kept asking if I 'remember _this_ now' or 'remember _that_ now' or kept saying things like 'dude, remembering the dojo is total swag yo, now only if you could remember us.' Jerry was the worst, especially when he kept repeating the same sentence over and over again.

If I wasn't strapped to a wheelchair and had a metal rod practically attached to my back, he would have been dead meat after the first time he said it. But, unfortunately, the wheelchair might as well have been a part of my butt and there was no getting out of it. Anytime soon, that is. The doctor (and the nurse who confirmed it, soon after) said that I would be in the wheelchair for six months at least. _At least!_ I knew I was going to go insane before the first month was even over yet. But they said the more I was off of my leg, the faster it would heal and you can't argue with the facts.

Anyway, back to the present.

Jack rolled me down the sidewalk, which is something strange to say so don't have a dirty mind about it, and we were heading to my house, which, I'll have you know, I was pretty excited about. Even though I didn't remember my 'supposed' best friends, I still remembered my comfy bed which I believed was _way_ more comfortable than a stiff, probably-made-out-of-cardboard hospital bed.

Jack, being the stubborn-headed brown-haired, brown-eyed boy that he is, tried to force me into a van that belonged to the hospital that was supposed to take me home. But me, being the persuasive blonde-haired, brown-eyed girl that _I_ am, insisted that he walked (or shall I say rolled?) me home so I could experience the fresh air that has been hidden from me for the past month (ish). He reluctantly agreed, and soon, after the final papers were signed, we were in the elevator and out the front doors into sunlight that immediately stung my eyes, but in a good way.

"So I know you've been asked this a lot lately, but because you remembered the dojo, have you remembered anything else since then?" Jack asked, pulling me away from my thoughts.

True, I _have_ been asked that a lot, but Jack has managed to not be one of the questioners, so I figured that I could answer the stupid question one last time because it came from his vocal chords.

I sighed. "Sadly, no. I'm trying!" I pleaded, trying to make him realize that I _was_. "I really am, but no." It's the truth. And when you've been in the hospital for a while, sometimes the truth is all you've got.

I couldn't see his face because, frankly, I was lazy and didn't want to turn around, but I guessed that he was nodding because he then said, "I understand." _Well, that was unexpected._

Usually the response to my answer was something along the lines of 'well, trying isn't good enough' or 'trying is for wimps, you need to _remember_' or, for my all-time favorite (not), 'Dudeeeeeeeee, not cool, man.' _Really, Jerry, what am I going to do with you?_

"You do?"

I think he nodded again. "Yeah, and I know it's going to take a while for your memory to come back and we can only wait until that happens. There's not much we can do…" Jack trailed off, leaving me confused, but I think I knew where he was headed.

"Unless?"

"Unless we take you to all of the places that you still need to remember, starting with my house." _What?_

I took the time to look around and noticed that we weren't on the usual route to my house but on a completely different one that included a 'stroll' down the abandoned side of Seaford. Like, literally, there was no one around. Even the buildings and shops looked like they'd been closed down for years. I was too busy thinking and talking to Jack to notice that he was pushing me in an area that I was completely unfamiliar with and it was starting to freak me out. It's like he was kidnapping me, and because I was strapped to a wheel chair with a big, bulking cast on my leg, I couldn't really defend myself if it came to that.

"Jack," I stated, a little shakily, "please turn around and take me home. I- I'm not comfortable with this." _Please, please just take me home._

"Chill, Kim, we are just going to my house. We are only about two minutes away. What's the big deal?"

Was he crazy? "The 'big deal' is," I began, making finger quotations, "is that you started to push me to 'your house' and you didn't even take the _public_ roads. You took the one that has been abandoned for who knows how long. You're going to expect me to take this _easily_?" I was getting really worked up but I didn't mean to. I blamed it on tiredness and the meds.

"What the heck are you talking about, Kim?" Jack asked, with shock in his voice. "There are people everywhere. We've been walking behind and old man with his dog for the past ten minutes, and honestly, I think he thinks that we are stalking him because he keeps turning around to glare at us, but that's- that's not the point. The point is that there are people _everywhere_ and you're just being crazy."

Well, that speech came out of nowhere, but what he said just didn't make sense.

"What do you mean everywhere?" I asked, exasperated, gesturing at the streets. "There's literally no one-" I stopped when I realized that Jack was right and the street was filled with people. "Bu- But that's not possible," I stuttered. Now that people just magically appeared up and down the sidewalk and road, I could hear the loud jumble of conversations coming from all around me. _Why couldn't I hear it before?_

"Are you ok, Kim? Do you want me to take you back to the hospital and have you looked at?"

I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but I decided to answer him seriously. "No, I think I'm fine. It's probably the weird medication that the nurse made me take before I left."

"What weird medication? It wasn't similar to the other ones that you've taken?" Jack's last sentence was sped up and I think he was becoming concerned.

I shook my head, or as much I could with the stupid neck brace on. So, not that much. "Nope. This guy came in, he looked like he was in his early twenties and he gave me this _huge_ pill, and I'm not exaggerating, and said that once I take it, the 'nutrients in the pill will make the healing process go faster' so I swallowed it. He also said that there are some side effects and hallucinations might be one on that list, but I wasn't really paying attention."

"But Kim," Jack started, uneasily, "don't you think this is more than a hallucination? I mean, you didn't notice a hundred frickin' people that were beside us or around us."

I managed a small, barely-noticeable shrug. "I don't know but I'm not going to worry about it right now," I yawned. "I just wanna go home and sleep in my super comfy bed. Now please, Jack, please take me home."

After a few more arguments and threats, Jack finally agreed to take me home, but only if I promised that tomorrow, we'd go to his house to see if I remembered anything. I wasn't too happy about the deal but the thought of remembering something else made me a little excited.

About ten minutes later, we arrived in my driveway and before I knew it, my mom and dad rushed out of the house all excited that I had finally returned home. They hadn't seen me in a while because they rarely visited me at the hospital; 'too busy with work' or something like that. I didn't care though, I was 'knocked out' most of the time anyway.

"There's my little Kimmy!" My mom practically shouted as she bounded down the front steps toward Jack and me. "We've missed you so much!" I remembered Jerry saying something about me hating that nickname, but it felt familiar when my parents said it. _What the heck?_

I didn't know what to say so I tried to improvise. "I've missed you so much, too!" Ok, that part I didn't need to make up, but the next part I had no idea what to say. "But I- um," I stuttered, trying to get the words out, "I don't like that name?" It came out more as a question than a direct statement.

"I know, dear," my dad said, not noticing that I ended on a high note and helping me out of my wheelchair so I could get into the house, "but it's just that we haven't seen you in a long time and we're so glad you're home."

I mentally gave a sigh of relief. So I _did_ hate that name and it wasn't just with Jack and Jerry, but also with my mom and dad.

I let my dad handle the arm that had a cast on it and I swung my other arm over Jack's shoulder who offered to help out. I ignored the now-familiar tingling feeling that appeared when I touched the bare skin of any part of Jack and just focused on getting into the house without falling and/or doing any more damage.

Turned out, it was a lot harder getting up to my room than I thought. "Gosh, this is so hard," I grumbled, meaning to say it quietly so no one could hear me. That plan didn't work out, though.

"I know, Kim, but we are almost there. Just hang with it." _Goodness, Jack can be just so caring sometimes. _But even I figured that out when I was comatose and could hear him talking with the other guys.

I seriously meant what I said, though. I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker when finally I had to stop. "Guys, please, I need a break. This is too much for me." Thankfully they stopped and I could relax for a minute, but I was getting weaker and weaker even when we weren't moving. _What is happening to me?_

"Are you alright, sweetie?" My dad asked propping up my crushed arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine." My eyes slowly started to flutter close and my head started pounding. I started to sink to the ground and my last thought was _Why does this always happen to me?_

The last words I heard before I blacked out was my name being called over and over again but I couldn't tell if was my dad, my mom, or Jack.

All I knew, was that something was wrong and I would probably wake up back in the hospital.

Ha, I was right. I should have bet money on it.

I decided not to guess how many minutes, or hours, had passed before I woke up because I figured it wouldn't matter anyway. Once the doctors checked on me I was going to be out of there, hopefully for the last time.

I blinked my eyes open so I could see clearly and I saw Jack and then three other people who I didn't recognize; two men and a woman.

"Hey, Jack," I groaned, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "What happened?"

He smiled at my awakening but when I asked the question, his visage became concerned again. "Well," he started, looking down at his hands while he played with his fingers, "we were walking you up to your room and, well, you said you wanted to stop and rest, so we did and you, uh- just kinda collapsed." Well, ok then. "Then we took you back to the hospital and the doctor ran some tests and yeah."

_Wait._ "Who's we?" I remembered most of what he said, but a lot of parts were very blurry and I couldn't remember every detail.

Jack look puzzled and it got me thinking- _is this just another thing that I'm supposed to remember and I just can't?_

"Your parents?" _Oh!_

I grinned from ear to ear. "Really? My parents are here? I can't wait to see them; I haven't seen them in forever." I looked around the room. "Where are they?"

The men and woman, that didn't include the doctor, looked shocked. "We're right here, sweetie." Then they smiled. "Everything is going to be alright."

Well, something was definitely wrong. Those people were not my parents because I had never seen them in my life. I would know my parents when I'd see them and those, my friends, are _not_ my parents. I laughed jokingly, "Ha, yeah right. Y'all aren't my parents, sorry. But if you _do_ see them, can you tell them to come here? I have loads to tell them."

Jack came around from the foot of my bed to sit in the chair beside me. "Kim, Kim, _no_! They are your parents! How can you not remember them? You were literally saying how much you missed them like an hour ago!"

I shook my head. "Nope, sorry. I don't believe you." I smiled, despite the circumstances, "But nice try. I'm pretty sure if I were anybody else, you would have fooled me."

Jack dropped his head into his hands and let out the longest groan that I had ever heard. What was his problem anyway?

I looked over at the strange couple who were _still_ standing at the end of my bed. The man looked heartbroken and the women seemed to be on the verge of tears. Why?

An awkward silence hung in the air and the courteous doctor decided to be the first to speak in about five minutes. "Well, you seem to be alright," _what a relief_ "you just ruptured another little piece of your temporal lobe and that was the cause of the pain-" He paused with a thoughtful expression "-and why you can't remember what you could have remembered before. If that makes any sense. What we don't know is the cause of the rupture so," he chuckled, "we are going to keep you here for at least a few more days to keep observations, so make yourself comfortable, Kim." And with that, the doc left the room. _Um, excuse me?_

I turned to Jack. "We need to find out the cause of the rupture, to make it sure it doesn't happen again, and we need to do it fast, so think." He looked at me strangely so I finished my thought, "because obviously I can't," and I gestured to my head.

Jack was about to say something but was interrupted by a knock on the door and it opening to reveal a young nurse, with a shot. "Hey, Kim," the guy smiled, "It's nice to see you, well, not in your case but I'm glad that you're back." He seemed a little nervous and he walked over to my IV that was, once again, hooked up to my arm and inserted the shot into the little hole where you're supposed to inject fluids. As the blue-ish purple fluid drained out of the shot, he kept sneaking nervous glances at Jack, and fortunately for Jack (I think), he was too busy playing with his fingers to notice what the guy was doing. "Well, there you go. The nutrients in the injection will speed up the healing process, so I'll see you later." He smiled at me one last time before he walked out and shut the door behind him. _Now where did that sentence sound familiar?_

As the door slammed shut, Jack snapped his head up. "Isn't that what you told me when I asked you about the pill that you took before you left here the first time? About the hallucinations?"

What on earth was he talking about? "What pill? What hallucinations?"

"The one you told me about that would 'speed up the healing process'?" I shook my head. "You told me about it right before we arrived at your house!" I shook it again and Jack groaned, dropping his head into his hands for the second time. "Never mind."

Not even before his hands came in full contact with his head, he snapped back up with a wild look in this eye. "That's it!" He basically screamed, in my face. I could practically see the gears turning in his head.

Now I was more confused than ever before. "What's it?"

"The pill!" He said, excitedly. "Maybe the pill is what ruptured your temporal lobe."

_Now why on earth would it do that?_ "Jack, think about it for a minute. The pill is supposed to _speed up_ my healing process, not make it worse."

"I have a suggestion-" The man started, before I cut him off. I forgot those two were in the room.

"What are you two still doing here? It'd be nice if you _left._ I hate strangers being in my room. My parents taught me stranger danger."

"But Kimmy, we _are_ your parents," the woman pleaded, but I just shrugged.

"Sorry, I don't remember you. So, please leave. The door is right behind you." The women started crying and the man comforted her as they walked out the door. When they shut it, I turned back to Jack and was about to say something when _he_ cut _me_ off.

"Don't you think that was a little harsh?"

"Nope, now back to what you were saying about the pill and… hallucinations?"

Ok, truth was, I did feel bad about what I said to the crying couple, because I'm not a mean person. It's just I was getting frustrated with the whole 'forgetting more memories' situation and deciding that what Jack said was starting to make a little sense in my mind. Maybe the pill did rupture another part of my temporal lobe. On accident or on purpose is the question I'd like to find out though.

Jack shrugged and went on explaining. "Well, look at it this way. The whole time you were stuck in the hospital bed with no way of knowing when you were gonna be let go or whatever, you're fine and you start to get some of your memories back. Then, the morning before you leave, a nurse, that you've _never_ seen before, comes in and gives you a strange pill that will magically make you heal." He seemed about done but before I could put my two cents in, he started back up again. "Face it, Kim, you have had nothing but problems since we left the hospital." Ok, he had a point.

I sighed in defeat. "Ok, you're right. It was the pill." I paused while I looked towards the door and pointed at it after a few seconds. "So do you think what that nurse put in my IV was something similar?"

Jack looked taken aback. "What nurse?"

I rolled my eyes and laughed. "A nurse came in and he put a blue-ish purple liquid in my IV and walked out. You were too busy playing with your hands to notice!" _What an idiot, _I thought, jokingly.

His eyes widened. "Maybe it did," he said, answering my earlier question. "Do you remember if he looked familiar?"

I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes at the beautiful, yet extremely naïve, boy sitting in front of me. "Do you really think if I can't remember a stupid pill, I could remember the person who gave it to me?"

Jack sighed. "I guess not. So," he also pointed to the door where the nurse came from and left, "what did that guy look like?"

I thought for a moment and gave up. It hurt my head too much to think. "I don't know. He was in his early twenties or something like that."

"That's the exact same description you told me the first time!" _Ok…_

"Ok, that's… great, I think. But now what are we going to do?"

Jack shrugged. "Let's just ask the doctor when he comes ba-" Then, as if on cue, the door opened and the said doctor walked in. "Wow, perfect timing."

I smiled and turned toward the doctor. "Hey, we were just wanting to talk you."

The doctor nodded and said, "You ask me whatever you like just as soon and I give you your medication." _Wait, what?_

I open my mouth to say 'what'chu talkin' about doc?' when Jack beat me to the punch. "What do you mean? Someone already came in and injected a fluid into her IV."

The doctor shook his head. "No they didn't, well not anybody who is authorized would have. I'm the only one certified to inject anything into this young lady's IV," and he patted my shoulder.

Jack and I shared a glance and he said to the doctor, "Doc, have a seat. We have to talk to you."

The doctor looked taken aback but hesitantly took the chair seated in front of the desk. He nodded which told us to go on.

Jack and I then took turns explaining the situation starting with pill and ending with the guy leaving the room only minutes before. "And that's what we wanted to tell you. We think the pill that the nurse gave Kim here, may have caused the rupture and the memory loss."

The doctor was silent during the whole explanation and nodded whenever was appropriate. "I see, well," the doctor said standing up, "I'm going to go talk with some of the other nurses to see if we can identify your 'faux nurse,' and maybe check some security cameras. I'll get back to you as soon as I get some information. Good day." And with a nod, he left the room.

I turned to Jack. "Now, I guess all we can do is wait."

Two painfully hours later, after Jack and I failed miserably at a game of truth or dare, the doctor came in with a file that looked to be filled with pictures. "I talked to the nurses and no one seemed to recognize the guy who injected citalopram, which is a medication that affects the chemical messengers in your brain, into your IV, but I looked at the security cameras and noticed that he was always talking to another boy, so I printed off some pictures for you to look at to see if you could identify him." He handed the file to Jack and sat down in the chair at the desk.

After looking through four or five pictures, Jack suddenly slammed them down on the bed making me jerk a little, which resulted in severe pain. I let out a loud moan.

Jack looked at me sympathetically before he turned serious again. "Sorry, but look at these!" He took one of the pictures off the bed and handed it to me and pointed at the different people. I noticed the nurse who gave me the medication and another boy who I didn't recognize. He was wearing red and had wild hair. "Do you know who this is?"

I slowly shook my head. "No, sorry?" I had no idea who this guy was but as I kept looking at the picture, he became more and more familiar.

Then it hit me. My eyes widened. "Is- is that-?" I couldn't get the name out, mostly because I knew his face, not his name.

Jack nodded. "That's Frank, from the Black Dragons."

_Frank._

**Well, there it is. Chapter 5. I hope it was worth the wait.**

**If you're confused, or if you just want to put in your input, leave a comment and/or review! It would really mean a lot to me! (And I fixed the mistake about Kim's eyes and Frank's age so I hope everything is all right now… thanks 'Kickin Taylor' :) )**

**Anyway, THANKS to all who reviewed the last chapter and hopefully, I'll get some more for this one!**

**-ecStarz**


	7. Chapter 6 What To Do Next

**A/N: Hey! Gosh, I'm such a horrible person. I feel so bad that I haven't updated in eight freaking months. I actually started writing this chapter the day I uploaded the last chapter, but then I suffered from a bad case of writer's block and eventually started writing again a couple days ago.**

**ATTENTION: I'VE EDITED AND RE-UPLOAED THIS CHAPTER 4 TIMES ALREADY BECAUSE YOU GUYS SAY IT'S CONFUSING. BUT I DON'T SEE IT, SO IF YOU COULD LET ME KNOW WHERE/WHY IT'S CONFUSING, THAT'D BE GREAT! THANKS!**

**Anyway, I'm sorry for leaving you all hanging, but I still want you to keep reviewing and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

**Chapter 6**

"I swear, one day I'm gonna pound him so hard…"

Jack was saying something about hurting Frank and whatnot, but my mind was on other things. _Frank. Frank. Frank?_

Frank was an old friend of my family's. I mean _really _old. He got me started in some sport that I can't remember, but then he just vanished, as far as my memory could backtrack. Well, in my situation, I guess you can't really go off of that, but the point is, is that after all these years, why was he coming back and talking to a nurse who put citalo-whatever into my bloodstream? _Something is going on, but what? And what the heck is the 'Black Dragons'?_

I waved my hand in the air. "That's great and all Jack, but what does Frank talking to a nurse have to do with my memory?" _Might as well get straight to the point._

Jack just stared at me. "Do you not know who Frank is?" He seemed a bit uptight when he said his name. Actually, not a bit, but a lot. The word 'Frank' was stated through gritted teeth. And he said it like he was making fun of me.

I narrowed my eyes. "Don't sass me. I know who he is, but what I want to know is _why._" Sheesh, men.

Jack sighed, clearing discovering that I won this short battle. "Well, my guess is that he wants to do something to hurt us- I mean you. I wouldn't put it past him to go this far," he said, gesturing to the IV.

Did I have to spell it out for him? "But why?" I asked, looking at the IV. "We've never done anything to him!" _Did we?_

Jack looked at me like I was crazy, or at least grew another head or something. "Kim, we did _everything _to him. Ever since you quit-"

"Hold on right there, Jack," I said, holding my hand up and cutting him off. "What do you mean 'everything'? I haven't seen Frank in years and I doubt that I could do something that bad when I was little to make him want to come find me and hurt me like this."

He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. It's like he was having a hard time finding a response to what I just said. After a few moments, he just closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Next thing I knew, he was speaking very softly, like he was trying to not make me mad, or at least so I wouldn't throw verbal curveballs at him. "Kim, I think you don't remember Frank the way I do, because of your… accident," Jack shuddered and I knew saying the word 'accident' must have been a bit difficult for him. "But trust me, he's not a caring sweet guy that you 'know' him to be. He's a pretty big jerk and became an even bigger one when you quit the Black Dragons. Ever since then, he's been out to get us."

"I never said he wasn't a jerk-" Something Jack said suddenly hit me. "What do you mean I quit the Black Dragons? What is the Black Dragons?"

Jack widened his eyes, but not in a shocking way, more like a 'what did you just say, are you crazy?' way. Then, he shook his head, stood up, and walked out the door. _Where the heck is he going?_ I was about to call after him when he walked back into the room and sat down in his chair and took a deep breath.

"The Black Dragons is a dojo that is known as the 'best in town,' and they've been trying to shut _our _dojo down for quite some time now."

"Ok, awesome, now about me quitting…?"

"Well, you did martial arts with Frank at the Black Dragons dojo," _so that was the sport! Martial arts, really?_ "And once you saw Frank and Ty, who is the sensei, cheat, you called them babies and left to come to the Bobby Wasabi dojo, with me, Milton, Jerry, and Eddie."

"But that doesn't explain why he hates me. You guys, I understand, but not me." I took a moment to read the irritated expression on Jack's face and quickly recovered. "Um, no offense." I offered an apologetic smile, but Jack just continued to squint at me.

"Actually," he started, still glaring at me, "it does explain it. You quit, he's mad. What don't you understand?"

Man, he was really getting mad, and suddenly a wave of emotion overcame me. "I'm sorry, ok?" I cried, my eyes starting to tear up. "Gosh, you don't have to yell at me!" I covered my face with my hands. "I'm sorry!"

"Kim. Kim?" Jack said, forgetting about being ticked-off. "Kim, don't cry. Why are you crying?"

"I don't know!" I bawled, the tears coming faster. _I really didn't._

"Well, stop!"

"I can't!" _Don'tcha think I would if I could?_ And then suddenly, I was full-on crying. _What is wrong with me?_ I seemed to be asking myself that question more often lately.

"Well, I am just going to let you two talk some things over," the doctor said, uncomfortably, standing up from the chair and walking towards the door, "and if you need anything, you know how to reach me." I had forgotten he was even there. _This is embarrassing, him watching me cry. AWKWARD._

I sniffled and nodded. "Thanks, doc."

Jack nodded at the closed door then quickly whipped his head around to look back at me. "What the heck is wrong-" he started, nearly screaming, but not in an angry tone. When he saw the tears start to fall again, he paused and began again. "What is the matter with you?" He asked more softly. _How am I supposed to know?_

Then, when I thought things couldn't get any weirder, my sadness was replaced by anger.

Pure anger.

Like, if I was Jack, I would be scared for my life right now. "What's the matter with _me_?" I screamed at him, not caring about whether I was disturbing the rest of the hospital. "What's the matter with _you_?" I was getting all worked up, and probably over nothing.

The boy looked stunned for minute and I felt sorry that he had to deal with these random mood swings. Then he equally matched my infuriated tone. "I'm not the one who is _crazy_ and can't remember anything! At least I've got parents and friends and can remember who they are!" Jack was breathing heavily, but looked like he wanted to take back what he said. Quietly, he muttered, "Kim, I didn't mean-"

_Too late._

I squinted my eyes and threw my hands up in exasperation. "You know what? Why are you still here? Why don't you just leave? It's not like I need you anyway." I pointed to the door. "There's the door," as if I was stating the obvious, "you're free to leave." I flopped down onto my back, temporarily forgetting about my injuries and closed my eyes to absorb the pain. _Ouch._

Jack looked taken aback, like he didn't know what to say next. Several minutes later, he cleared his throat and said "I'm here because I- I care about you." _Well, that was unexpected._ But because I was in the middle of the fury phase of my situation, his words just went in one ear and out the other.

And what made it worse- what I said next, I didn't even mean. "Yeah? Well, _I_ don't care about _you_. Please, just go."

Jack stood up hesitantly and started backing up towards the door. I didn't want to see him go, really, I didn't. But I couldn't bring myself to stop him, which I hated. "Kim, you don't know what you're doing. It's the citalopram talking. It's what's making you do this," he took a deep breath, "but if this is what you want, then I'll go." _No, wait._ "I'm going to leave my number here on the table if you need anything. Or if you just want to txt me. I want you to know that I'm here for you, even if you don't think I am." He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket (who knows how long that has been in there?) and put it on the miniature table by the door. "See you later, Kimmy." Jack gave a little smile, and then he was gone.

"Jack, wait," I whispered, not loud enough to be heard. "Come back." But he was already gone. I closed my eyes and felt a single tear slide down my cheek.

For the first time since my accident I was alone.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

I think I fell asleep. Actually, more like I cried myself. Not _crying _crying, just silent tears, because Kim Crawford is too tough for bawling.

Slowing sitting up and trying to not cause pain, I looked around the room hoping to see that Jack hadn't left and was still sitting on the chair that was conveniently placed beside my bed.

No luck. It was still empty.

My eyelids started to feel heavy, but I suppressed the tears that were about to take place. Honestly, I was tired of being an emotional train wreck and wished that I could just turn back time.

Back to before I screamed at him and practically forced him out of my life, even though I'm pretty sure I can't _live_ without him now.

Back to before I let the creepy nurse inject the crazy substance into my IV.

Back to before the stupid collision that started this whole mess.

That was it! I had an idea, but first I needed to apologize to a probably-broken-hearted brown-haired boy. I eyed the piece of paper that he had put on the table by the door and decided to call him. Maybe beg for his forgiveness. _Yeah._

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and just sat there for a moment or two. I couldn't remember how severe my injuries were, but when I couldn't feel any pain, I started to wonder. Plus, didn't I have a huge cast on, or something? I looked all over my body and discovered that I didn't have any bandages or casts or wraps on. Nothing. _That's weird._ Whatever. I wiggled my toes and slowly put my feet on the floor, and for some reason, the feeling of the cold hospital floor on my feet was appreciated. It actually felt kind of good. I stood up so effortlessly that I wondered why I was in the hospital in the first place. Obviously nothing was wrong.

I walked over to the hospital door and picked up the piece of paper, anxious to call Jack, but was stunned for a moment when I saw that there was nothing written on it. It was just a blank notecard.

Great. So Jack left, and now there was absolutely no way for me to contact him.

I let my head drop back and groaned out loud to the ceiling. _If only there was some way to find him._

I looked behind me at the bed and saw my bag sitting next to it on the floor. I walked over, picked it up and started rummaging through it, hoping to find something useful. Luckily, its contents included about $50 in cash, my cellphone, and make-up accessories that I may or may not need. I looked down to see what I was wearing and saw that I was sporting jeans and one of my favorite sweatshirts. _Alright, let's do this._

I opened the door of my exclusive hospital suite (just kidding) and looked up and down the hallway. No one was in sight. I tip-toed up and down the numerous hallways until I came across the front entrance of the entire hospital. Seriously, that place was like a maze. I mentally patted myself on the back for making it out of there without getting caught, which reminded me that I hadn't seen a single living body in that whole sanatorium.

Shaking my head, I just blamed it on the citalopram which had a reputation of causing me hallucinations. Like the time I was with Jack and I didn't see anybody on the streets, when in reality, the traffic was heavy and the streets were crowded.

_Jack._ I sighed and shook my head. I'd find him.

Sooner or later.

Walking what seemed like endless miles, I found my way to the mall and sat on one of the benches, thinking about what to do next. I had planned to find Jack in the dojo, but from the looks of the darkened windows and the door being locked, something told me that it was closed today and he wasn't in there.

On the bright side, I could see people again. I walked up to the security guard of the mall, hoping that she'd seen Jack before and could tell me where he might be. "Um, hi," I started uneasily. "I was wondering if you could help me find somebody?"

The security officer turned around sharply and gave me a glare, before she saw who I was. Then the scowl left her face and she wrapped me in a hug. A very tight hug, I might add. "Well," she pulled away and put her hands on her hips, "if it isn't Kim Crawford! I haven't seen you in years! How have you been?" _Uh, and you are-?_

I gave her a questioning look with a little half-smile mixed in. "Hi-" I tried to casually take a peek at her nametag, "-Joan." The named sounded familiar but her face wasn't ringing any bells. I figured she was just another person to add to the list of things I can't remember. _Which reminds me, I need to find Milton too._ She kept smiling, so I kept going, and tried to play along. "What do you mean you haven't seen me in years? I've only been in the hospital for-" I paused. Actually, I didn't know how long I was trapped in that h-hole. Surely, not _years._ "-not as long as that.

Now it was her turn to give me weird look. "You've been in the hospital?" _Is this a trick question?_

"Um, yes?"

She held her I'm-not-believing-you expression for several moments before she broke out into a laugh, punched me on the shoulder and sighed. "You can't slide anything past the Joan-ster," she said, making a sliding motion with her hand, "I knew you were kidding the whole time." _Um, no?_

"What are you talking about Joan?" _Like, really, what are you talking about?_

She laughed again, and punched me on the shoulder. Again. "That hospital in Seaford?" I nodded, afraid of where she was going with this. "That hospital has been closed down for about 3 years now. No way could you have been a patient there recently."

"But- but," I kept whipping my head back and forth from Joan to where I just walked from. "But, I was just at that hospital like ten minutes ago!"

"Sorry, girly, not possible." She gave me a sad smile, patted my head, and started to walk away, but I stopped her when I remembered why I talked to her in the first place. I'll think about the whole hospital deal later.

"Joan, wait!" She turned around. "I need to know if you've seen a boy about yay tall," I put my hand above my head, "and has brown hair and his name is Jack?" As I gave the vague description of Jack, Joan's grin slowly left her face.

It took her awhile to reply. Why? I don't know. "Jack? As in, Jack Brewer?"

I nodded. I mean, I never knew his last name, but that very well could be it. "So you know him?"

"Heck yeah, I know him! He's always doing his kicky-kicky chop-chop thing, and he's one of the main reasons why I wear this badge." Joan pointed to a spot on her shoulder, but there wasn't anything on it. I didn't say anything about it, though. "He's a troublemaker, Kim. If I were you, I'd stay away from him." She started to walk away again but stopped and said one last thing that I could not believe. "Which won't be hard to do, considering he doesn't live here anymore." _Say what?_

"What do you mean he doesn't live here anymore, Joan?" I talked to him yesterday! Or this morning, or whatever. You know what I mean.

"Well, after you disappeared-" _Disappeared? "-_he became all depressed or something like that, and then he moved back to his hometown." Something snapped inside that crazy head of her's, and her eyes widened. "Speaking of which, what are you doing back here?" Once again, she enclosed me in a strangling hug, which I gently broke away from.

I laughed half-heartedly and took a step back. "Obviously, there's been some mistake, so I'm just gonna go now." I stepped back again. "Thanks for… everything." And another step. "And you're crazy!" I turned around and ran for it. I didn't know where I was going, but I didn't look back. There was something wrong with that woman, because what she was saying didn't make any sense. _Did it?_ No, no it didn't.

I didn't know how long I ran for, but for some reason, I ended up back at the hospital, which was the last place I wanted to be at the moment. I remembered what Joan had said about the hospital being closed down, so I looked around for any evidence that she was right. I didn't have to look long because the darkened windows and the nonexistent sign that read: 'O'Connor Hospital' told me everything I needed to know.

So I sat down, right there on the street, not knowing what to do next.

If Joan was right about the hospital, does that mean she was right about Jack?

No. I wasn't going to believe it. Jack was still in Seaford, somewhere, and I was going to find him, no matter how long it takes. Because I, Kim Crawford, cannot live without that boy, and if I can't find him, then there wouldn't be any point to living. _Because that's the drama every teenage girl has to deal with._

I can't give up now.

So I started walking, with no destination in mind. I walked past different houses, and eventually found myself at the mall again, but this time I didn't stop. I kept walking for hours, making twists and turns, backing up and turning around. Until my feet stopped in front of a house. I didn't know whose house it was, but I figured it was my subconscious telling me that it was important.

I plopped myself down on the bench across the street and just stared at it. _Out of all the houses in this city, why did I suddenly become tired in front of this house? _It wasn't a random house. I mean, I've seen this house before, somewhere. I just couldn't remember where.

I stood up and walked across the street to the front porch. It didn't look like anybody was home, so I, hopefully, wasn't disturbing someone.

Being the weirdo that I am, I ran my fingers over the doorknob, gently, hoping to gain some memory of the house.

Then it hit me. Like a ton of bricks.

Visions flooded my brain of the guys and me hanging out in the basement watching movies at this house.

Us making cookies in the kitchen and having a food fight at this house.

Me and Jack sitting on his bed just talking, in this house.

And one thing that caught my attention was the pictures hanging on the walls and placed on the tables.

This house was, indeed, Jack Brewer's house.

After my brain decided to stop showing me pictures, I saw one last glimpse of the welcoming front door, and then I was met with a wave of darkness, which I was used to, anyway. Why should I expect anything different?

But something was different that time. All I could see was black, and instead of lasting maybe one, two seconds tops, it seemed like this one was carrying on forever. It was like I was blind, with a really bad headache.

I felt my way to the ground and just laid there, hoping this pain would just go away. But it kept getting worse, and worse, and then… nothing. My eyes involuntarily snapped open and there I was- on the hospital bed, in the same room we all know and love.

I sighed. _It was just a dream. _All of it, the whole thing, was a dream.

I adjusted my eyes to see Jack leaning over me.

And holding my hand.

Maybe I wasn't clear. Jack was holding my freaking hand.

Oh, and he looked scared to death.

**Well, that was Chapter Six, and I don't really like the way I wrote this chapter, and I had no idea where to end it, so I just ended it there.**

**A big THANKS to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! And again, I feel really bad that it took me this long, so I'm sorry.**

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS! (and keep reviewing!)**

**-ecStarz**


	8. Chapter 7 Is This Really Happening

**A/N: Hey! So I am a terrible person, I'll admit that, but it's not like I had forgotten about this story in this past year. I just didn't know how to write it because I realized I left the last chapter with little detail about what was going to happen. And I felt that if I didn't write it how you guys wanted it to go, then I would let you down, and I didn't want that.**

**But after all the reviews I got, I knew it was time to just write this chapter no matter what… so here it is! I'm so sorry for not updating in over a year, but on the bright side, I actually have the ending of this story in mind now, and I'm not just winging it… so yay!**

**Anyway, thanks for reviewing… I wouldn't have updated this story without you… so keep them coming! I hope you like it… read on!**

**Chapter 7**

It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the fact that Jack looked terrified, as if I had grown three heads, which by the way, is probably _not_ what happened. Wait, l can't get ahead of myself. _Jack was back!_

"Oh my gosh, Jack!" I could feel my face break out into the biggest smile I've had on my face in a long time. I quickly sat up in my bed, untangled my fingers from his, wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug. "I thought you left me," I whispered into his hair.

Jack took a few moments to respond, but when realization caught up to him, his stiff body relaxed and his arms wrapped around me. "I could never leave you, Kim," He pulled back, and I let him go, sadly, "but are you okay?"

I smiled up at him. "Yes, why wouldn't I be?" _Everything is great, perfect actually._

He tilted his head and looked at me quizzically. "Well, um, for starters, you told me to leave-" he paused, "-actually you screamed it, but anyway…" I sighed. The memory of our fight came rushing back and it made me sad, so I cut him off.

I held my hand up. "Jack, I am so sorry about what I said earlier, but I'm over it, because I had a dream!" I seriously could not stop smiling and I was actually starting to worry myself, probably because I sounded like a lunatic.

Jack kind of skeptically half-smiled. "A dream?" He laughed. "About what?"

I opened my mouth to explain what happened, but then I realized it probably wouldn't make much sense anyway. Whenever I try to explain a dream I've had, it never comes out the way I planned and I sound crazy. I was going to avoid that. So instead I said, "It doesn't matter!" I took a deep breath. "The point is, I remember!"

Jack squinted his eyes like he didn't believe me. _Um, excuse me?_ "You remember? Remember what?" I couldn't tell if he was just messing with me or he didn't think I'd actually remember something.

I playfully punched him in the shoulder. "You, idiot! I remember you!"

"Me?" _Seriously? How hard is that to understand?_

I rolled my eyes, but still kept a smile on my face. "Yes! I remember everything!" _Well, ok, not everything, but everything about Jack. _"Your name is Jack Brewer, you're my best friend," I nudged him with my elbow, "and we do martial arts together at the Bobby Wasabi Dojo!" I pulled him into a hug again.

"Wow," Jack said, with a skeptical tone in his voice. I pulled away, cautiously squinting at him, "You don't seem relieved that I know who you are." Jack semi-relaxed and a smile spread across his face. "No, I am! I just can't believe it! I'm just… what the heck was that dream about?" _Well…_

I tilted my head, pondering about how to answer him without seeming like a weirdo. "It's really hard to explain, if you didn't experience it. Just… just don't leave me, ok? I'm serious. Even if I scream at you to leave, _don't._ I mean it. Just-" I was cut off by hair.

"Kim, I won't leave you, I promise." Jack said, and I hugged him harder. _Everything is going to be alright. _I pulled away after a while, and wiped imaginary tears of joy from my eyes. I mean, if I wasn't so awesome, there would be tears there, right? I would assume so.

"We need to find Milton," I started, looking around for my shoes, "I need to see his list." My eyes roamed the floor, but then dread settled on my chest when they landed on the wheelchair in the corner of the room. I wasn't in a dream anymore. This was reality, and in the real world, I was still crippled and was dependent on others to get me around. I sighed.

Jack laughed. "You're not going anywhere; you need to rest. I'll go get Milton," and he turned to leave through the door.

"Jack wait, what did you just promise me?" I knew I was being a little over-the-top, but I found it kind of amusing. He turned toward me really slowly with a major 'you've-got-to-be-freaking-kidding-me' look that only Jack can do so well. And I just grinned back at him.

He threw his head back and groaned, "Fine!" and he plopped down into the chair that was next to my bed. Jack took his cell out of his pocket and started messing with it. "I'll just text him and tell him to come over here."

"Thank you," I said, smugly.

"Anything for you, Kimmy," matching my smugness with faux-smugness.

I smiled and looked down. Something changed, _what was it?_

There was knock on the door several minutes later accompanied by a "Knock knock", as Milton's head peered in. "Hey Kim! How are you feeling?"

I couldn't remember the last time I talked to Milton, or Jerry and Eddie for that matter, (time had been really hard to keep track of) and I didn't know how much he knew about what had happened to me recently. "Good," I smiled, "did you bring it?" _It, as in, the binder that kept what I could and could not remember. All I know is that he better have it._

"Yep!" He stepped into the room and held up the binder, starting to flip through the pages. "Jack told me that you started remembering some stuff, so I thought 'hey, we need our binder!'" Milton sat down in a chair on the other side of the room and crossed his right leg over his left leg, kind of like how a girl sits, and opened the binder across his lap. "So, what do you remember?" and he took a pen out from behind his ear. _What a nerd._

"Well, um… uh…" I played with my fingers. I don't know why I was so nervous to tell him. I was super happy about it ten minutes ago. "I… well, you can, uh… you can cross Jack off that list now." I couldn't look anywhere but at my hands, not even at Jack.

"Oh, my gosh, Kim! You remember Jack?" I couldn't tell by Milton's shocked tone that he was either happy that I remembered someone so important or mad because it was _Jack _who I remembered and not someone else. I had no idea.

I hesitated before I answered him. "Um, yeah."

"That's great, Kim!" Ok, so he was happy for me, maybe. "How?" _Well…_

"I had a dream," I pinched the bridge of my nose, "but it's not that big of a deal." _Yes, it is!_

"It's a huge deal, Kim," Milton said as Jack said, "yes, it is!" I gave a small smile at my hands. For some reason, I could not pick my head up to look at them in the eyes. "The fact that you remember Jack means that there's hope for remembering the rest of us! Would you like to do the honor of crossing Jack's name off of this list?"

"Um, sure." _What is with me today? _I should've been super excited to cross Jack's name off the freakin' list. I took the pen and binder from Milton and drew a big fat line through Jack's name, while noticing the other things on the list that I had yet to remember. Is it possible to be relieved and stressed at the same time?

I hesitated giving Milton back the binder because I felt that those papers held the secrets to my life. Cliché? Probably. True? Yes.

"Is there anything else?" Milton asked, as he flipped through the papers of the binder. _ I wish._

I shook my head. "Sorry Milton, that was it." He looked a little let down, and my heart squeezed. _I am so sorry, Milton_.

As soon as Milton walked out the door, I started tearing up, but only because I forgot Jack was in the room. If I would have remembered that he was there, I would have stayed tough, but I was oblivious, and so Jack was watching me being on the verge of crying.

Jack came over and sat on the side of my hospital bed. "Kim, what's wrong?" He asked, softly. I covered my face with my hands so he wouldn't look at my puffiness and shook my head. "Nothing," I mumbled, trying my hardest not to sniff, because obviously that would give me away.

He shifted his body so that he was completely facing me. "Oh, c'mon… you can tell me." He started rubbing and patting my shoulder, but no, it wasn't as weird as one might think. "Why are you crying? This is a good thing! You remember me!" I could hear the smile in his voice, but I still wouldn't look up at him. That's it. I sniffled.

"It's not about you, Jack," I reassured him as I slowly lifted my hands away from my face. My cheeks felt heavy with tears, and I knew there was no going back now. I looked into Jack's deep dark brown eyes, and just stayed that way for a moment, trying to find the right words to say. "I just-" _What am I trying to say?_ "I just… I feel terrible that I can't…" I could feel the tears coming. It was going to be Niagara Falls in 3… 2… _There it goes._ "Why can't I remember anything?" I cried, trying to wipe the tears as fast as they were falling, which was kind of difficult. Who knows how long I had been holding in those tears. "It's just so hard! Being around you every day… It's like you know something that I don't! But I can't do anything about it because it's true!" I gave up on trying to dry my eyes, so I just sniffled. "Why'd I have to lose my memory? Why did we have to go on that stupid ski trip in the first place?" I just looked at Jack, hoping that he wouldn't leave me to cry by myself. But more importantly, I was hoping he could at least give me some fake answers to my questions.

But instead of answering me, he carefully cupped his hands around my face and rubbed his thumbs across my cheeks, wiping up stray tears. _Why are you the sweetest guy alive? _"Listen, Kim," Jack started, but I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying because all I could think about what that Jack was touching my face. _Jack_ was _touching_ my _face_, why did I love him so much? _Wait…_ _Oh, gosh… _"I am so proud of you. I want you to know that. And not just because you remember me, but because look how far you've come! It hasn't been easy, and it won't be for a while, but we've known that from the beginning." He looked deeper into my eyes. _Hello there…_ "I am here for you, and I always will be until you remember every little detail about your life that you've forgotten. And when that's done, then I will be here for you when we have to face more obstacles, and so on and so forth. Do you understand?"

I sort of laughed in between the tears that kept coming, but I nodded. "Thank you," I whispered.

"No problem," Jack smiled sadly back, and I'm not sure if it was the medication or what, but I _swear_ I saw him lean forward. _Oh, my gosh! Jack is going to kiss me! Jack is going to kiss me… I know it!_ When I was sure that I did, in fact, see him lean forward the slightest bit, I started leaning forward too, and closed my eyes. _This is it! Is this really happening?_ Closer and closer… Was this really going to happen? _Yes… YES…_

No. The doorknob to the hospital room made a clicking sound and the door opened swiftly. Jack and I jumped away from each other, and while Jack watched the door, I just buried my head in my hands. _No! So close…_

Curious to see who ruined mine and Jack's moment, I peeked through my fingers and saw no other person but… the doctor. _Again? _Haven't I already had enough of him? "Hello, Kim, how are you doing?" The doctor asked, sitting down in his swivel chair.

I took my hands away from my face. "Fine," I mumbled. _Perfect before you walked in._

"Wonderful," the doctor turned toward Jack, "I'm sorry, son, but you're going to have to leave for a few hours while we run some final tests."

My head snapped side to side, looking from the doctor, to Jack, and then back to the doctor. "What, why?" I asked, incredulous. "You've never asked him to leave while we ran other tests." I paused. "Plus, haven't we run enough tests? What more could you possibly need to know?"

Jack patted my shoulder. "Actually, yes they have." I raised my eyebrows. "You've just been asleep… or unconscious when they did. It's okay, Kim," He smiled at me- one of those rare, 'makes-your-day' smiles. "Everything will be okay." I watched Jack leave the room and laid back on the bed.

"Alright, Doc, let's get this over with," and I closed my eyes.

I had no problem opening my eyes to the white lights of the hospital room, but it was weird looking up at the ceiling. I felt refreshed, like I had gotten a good night's rest, but I couldn't remember what I dreamed about. _Did I even dream? _I blinked my eyes a couple of times before I tried to sit up. It was rather difficult. Situated, I racked my brain, trying so hard to remember what I dreamed about. I always dreamed, so this was weird.

_Where's the clock? There's a clock in this room right?_ I wanted to know how much time had passed, but the room didn't have a clock, and I didn't know where my phone was at the moment. But according to what little sunlight was shining through the window, I was going to assume that it was late afternoon, early evening.

I turned toward the little table beside the bed in hope that my phone would magically appear where I thought I left it, but my attention was caught off guard by a beautiful bouquet of Lisianthus flowers. _What the-_ I picked up one of the stems, and when I smelled it, I almost felt like crying all over again, but tears of happiness this time. The scent was wonderful. I went to put it back in the vase when I noticed a card hidden in between the petals. I plucked it out and opened it up and immediately started smiling. It was from Jack.

_Kim, _the letter read, _I waited a few hours like the doctor said, but when I came in, you were sound asleep and I didn't want to wake you. So I left the flowers by your bed. I know you're going through a hard time right now, but I wanted to assure you (again) that I'm never going to give up on you. Ever. So… I have included ten pictures of you, me, and the gang, and on the back of each one, I've written one thing that I like about you. Maybe it will help you remember something. Stay strong, Kim. You're amazing. –Jack._

I wiped a tear from my eye, amazed that Jack would do something like this for me. I found the pictures next to the vase and started to look through them, not forgetting to read what was on the back of course. Most of them were of us at Falafel Phil's, sitting in a booth, or just hanging around the dojo. But there was one that was just me and Jerry, and we were sitting at a table in Portocini's, the local pasta restaurant. _Why? It looks like…. A date? No… really? But I thought Jack… and me… and what?_

And then, as if my mind remembered a certain code or whatever that clicked into place, the memories of Jerry started rushing back to me. We weren't on a date! Well, _Jerry_ thought we were, but really I was supposed to be on a date with Jack. Jerry was one of my good friends, though, I've known him forever. All the dancing, the sparring… we even both liked gymnastics. But we often got mad at each other, but all friends get annoyed with each other every once in a while. Jerry and I were close friends! _Can you believe that?_ I smiled. I actually remember Jerry.

I heard a knock, and as if on cue, Jack along with Milton walked in. "Hey, Kim! Feelin' better?" Milton asked as he took a seat on the swivel chair. "Jack told me they were running more tests."

"I've never been better," I said happily, as I made eye contact with Jack. He smiled at me, I smiled at him. It was one big happy smiling fest. "Oh, and by the way," I paused for dramatic effect, "I remember Jerry! Like everything! All thanks to the pictures you gave me, Jack! Thank you!" I held my arms open, and with that gorgeous smile on his face, he walked over and gave me a hug. "No problem, Kim."

I heard Milton clear his throat, and I turned to look at him. "What?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Milton asked, still spinning.

I looked at Jack hoping for answers, but he just shrugged. "Um… no..?" I asked questioningly. "Am I?" _What is he talking about?_

Milton stood up from his spinning chair abruptly, but a little dizzy. "Kim, why haven't you remembered me?" _I don't know…_ I stayed silent. He started walking around the room making wild hand gestures. "It just doesn't make any sense! You should've remembered me before Jerry! If not before Jack!"

I was so confused. "Why?" I asked, getting annoyed. "Why should have I remembered you first?" _A little egotistical don'tcha think?_

"Because you kissed me!" _Wait, what! Ex-CUSE me?_

I turned to look at Jack, but he looked as dumbfounded as I felt. I shook my head and turned back to Milton. "What are you talking about? I _kissed _you? Why?"

"Well, you were helping me, and I guess-" _No. __No, no , no, no, NO. __Not__possible__._

I felt my heart start beating faster and my face was getting hot. I couldn't believe this. _I kissed Milton?_ Because of the tests, I was still hooked up to the heart monitor, and I could hear my heart beats getting faster and faster, and I was getting dizzy, which I've learned can never be good. I leaned back on the bed to lay down and tried to breathe, but it was painful. My lungs felt like they were on fire. I heard Jack and Milton arguing in the background.

"Milton! What is wrong with her? Her heart is beating super-fast!" _No, duh!_

"I don't know! I think she might have atrial arrhythmia!" _Stop using big words, Milton! What does that mean?_

But I never got to hear what that meant, because everything suddenly went black.

_Am I dying?_

**Alright, so that was Chapter Seven. It was really hard to write because I started the chapter about nine months ago, and then randomly added parts when ideas came to me, so it's really sporadic and I'm sorry about that. But I hope it turned out okay. And I'm sorry that it's shorter than the other chapters.**

**Remember to review! And THANKS for reading even though I am a terrible, **_**terrible**_** person. I love you guys! **

**-ecStarz**


	9. Chapter 8 Picture's Worth a 1000 Words

**A/N: Hey! So, I can't believe it, but I actually finished a chapter somewhat on time. I wanted to give you guys a Christmas present, so on Sunday I told myself I was going to have this done by Christmas eve, and look at that… it's finished! I'm also proud of the fact that it took me less than a year to update this time.**

**I hope you guys like the chapter, and don't forget to review and comment! I love hearing your thoughts! Keep being awesome… and read on!**

**Chapter 8**

No, because dying would have been too easy. I couldn't escape the fact that Milton and I had a past (how tiny and insignificant it may be), and that he was mad at me because I couldn't remember him. I mean, it's not like I wasn't trying, but nothing I had seen sparked any memory of him. Yet. _Why can't things be any simpler?_

I had woken up many times in this hospital, but this time wasn't easy, and it actually took effort for me to come to my senses and open my eyes. Actually, I'm not sure I would've ever woken up if it weren't for the loud constant beeps that seeped into my subconscious. I was having a pleasant dream. Not one of the weird ones that cause me to remember something (although that would've been nice considering the present situation), but this one was just normal, until the beeps woke me up.

I struggled to open my eyes, but not because of the bright lights of the room I was staying in. Unlike the various other times I awoke to a sheer-white ceiling, the lights were dimmed, and they didn't blind me. _Thank the Lord._

Along with not being able to open my eyes, I also couldn't breathe. I felt like I was suffocating, and I could feel a certain pressure on my face that I knew wasn't natural. Not really consciously, I moved my hand up to my face to try to feel what was there. I couldn't tell just from touch what it was, but whatever it was, it covered my nose and my mouth. _It must be an oxygen mask,_ I thought drily, _great._ I pushed the thing off of my face and took a deep refreshing breath, and luckily my eyes were able to fully open. _Much better._

I blinked a couple times, willing my eyes to adjust to the light (or lack thereof), and glanced around the room to find something, _anything_, I could familiarize myself with. I was so disoriented coming out of this-whatever you want to call it- and honestly, I didn't know what to expect.

Jerry. Jerry was the last thing I expected to be in my hospital room, yet there he was, sitting in an uncomfortable folding chair snoring rather loudly. And obnoxiously. He was lounging next to…

Jack. My mind smiled, because frankly, I was too exhausted to physically do it. Of course he would be there. Jack was _always_ there when I woke up, it was like his thing. I would be concerned if he wasn't there. "Jack," I whispered. Well, I didn't mean to whisper. My vocal chords were just a little rusty. I tried again, "Jack!" And I coughed. Nope, my voice was definitely messed up. Since I couldn't wake Jack up by saying his name, I just stared at him intently, telepathically willing him to wake up. _Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up…_

As if on cue, Jack blinked his eyes open, and caught me staring at him. I felt my cheeks redden, but I didn't dare to look away. He only hesitated a split second before he stood up and walked over to me. "Kim! How are you feeling?" Jack sat down and took my hand in his, and I'm pretty sure my cheeks got even redder. _Yikes._

I gathered up my energy to smile and tried to say, "good", but it resulted in coughing. Jack waited until I was done hacking up a lung to say, "really? Because you don't sound like it." I rolled my eyes and tried again. "Good," I said, rasping, resisting the urge the cough. I had to keep going. "I'm fine," _cough, _"I'm fine… I'm fine… I'm fine!" My voice finally went back to normal with only a little sting in the back of my throat, but I was definitely going to live. "I'm good, Jack, how are you?" I gave him a genuine energetic smile.

Jack's eyes lit up. "I'm better now that you're awake." As fast as his eyes lit up, the light left. I swear I saw his eyes glisten with what looked like tears. _But why?_ "We... I… didn't think you were, um, going to make it." He looked down at our intertwining fingers, but the only thoughts that were going through my mind were what had happened?

"What do you mean?" I asked, carefully, trying to find answers in his eyes. That method didn't work very well though, considering he wouldn't even look at me. _C'mon Jack._

"Well, I don't know how much you remember, but Milton kind of freaked out on you, and then your heart rate got really fast, and, well, you kind of passed out." He took a deep breath and looked up, his eyes still shiny.

"I remember Milton saying something about atrial arrhythmia?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, Milton thought you had that, and you might, but the doctors are still examining the tests they ran on you. They can't figure it out, but they think you might be developing some sort of sickness, probably from the new meds they put you on." _WHAT? I am _way_ too young for this._ He turned around and faced Jerry, who was still snoring like a moose. I think that's the right analogy. Eh, he was pretty loud. Jack gestured to his friend, "I've been here since, well, they told me I could come back after the doctors were done running tests. And Milton was here for a while, but then Jerry took his spot a couple of days ago…" He trailed off.

_Wait… a couple of days?_ "Um, Jack, how long have I been… out?" I was afraid of the answer, but I had to know. Days? Months? Surely not years, but who knew? I held my breath.

"About a week and a half." Okay, so not as bad as it could've been, but I was tired of losing time from my life. I mean you only live once, and here I am, wasting it in a hospital. "You had a couple of close calls, but also a couple of times where we thought you were going to wake up. It's been an interesting week to stay the least." He gave me a little smile and squeezed my hand, and I couldn't help but smile back.

So, he'd been worried about me. I almost felt pleased. It was nice to know that he cared, but he also didn't have to prove it to me. I just knew. He was the type of person that always cared about others, and that was one thing that I loved most about him. "Remember when I made you promise that you'd never leave me?" I asked Jack, and he nodded ever so slightly. "Well, that goes for me to," I smiled, "I won't leave you either," and I let go of his hand and pulled him into a hug. "Like you said," I whispered, "everything is going to be okay." And Jack hugged me back, tighter.

A knock on the door woke Jerry up in a startled manner, causing him to ramble, saying things like "No, ma, it wasn't me!" and "Please! Don't take me away!" What on earth was he dreaming about?

Jack tried to calm him down, but he obviously wasn't listening. "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry, stop!" Jerry bolted upright in the chair and looked around, his eyes finally resting on us, "What?" he asked, finally awake. I rolled my eyes and laughed. He looked like a prairie dog, poking its head out of the ground.

"Sorry to interrupt, uh, whatever was going on, but I wanted to check on Kim," the doctor smiled and took a seat in a chair next to my bed while Jack stood up and walked back over to his chair next to Jerry. It was sad to see him go, even if it was just across the room. "How are you feeling?"

I nodded. "Good… better." I paused, "I feel better."

"I'm glad to hear it," the doctor said, looking down at his clipboard. "There's nothing to worry about. We are just going to put you on some new medications for the pain, and hopefully this time it won't make you faint." He smiled again and stood up. "If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to find me. I'll check back in later." And with that he left the room.

I glanced over at Jack who looked a bit more than confused. "Is it just me or did that guy seem weird…er than normal?" My raised eyebrows must have asked the silent question because Jack rolled his eyes and continued on, "Well he didn't really give you any answers! Isn't that what doctors are supposed to do? Give you answers?"

Noticing that the doctor had left me a glass of water on the side table, I took a long sip, feeling the liquid travel down my dry throat into my stomach. _When was the last time I ate something?_ Too long. I swallowed. "He did say not to be worried. I think that's an answer."

Jack threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. "Yeah, yeah, but I still think he's hiding something."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, well, while you're busy thinking about how my doctor is keeping secrets from me, can you and sleeping beauty over there go get some food at least? I am starving." And I was! I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had actually eaten real food, not just nutrients trickling through my IV.

Jack and I looked over at Jerry who somehow had fallen back asleep while the doctor was talking. He amazed me sometimes. There was a long pause before Jack nodded and stood up. "Yeah, sure. Anything specific?" I shook my head. "Alright then." As he walked passed Jerry, Jack grabbed his arm. "C'mon Jerry, we're going to Phil's." _Yes._ I couldn't wait to have a big plate of falafel balls, even if they weren't the healthiest things on the planet.

Jerry wasn't moving, so Jack actually pulled him out of his chair. And he fell right on the floor. "Jerry, let's go!" Jack grunted, pulling him towards the door.

"Wha-? Where are we going?" The human lump spoke from the floor.

"Falafel Phil's! Kim wants food." _Great. He's making me sound like a fatty._

Jerry still looked asleep, but he continued trying to talk. "Um, sure. I… I just… need to… get the gift."

"The gift for what?"

"I promised him!" _What the heck is he talking about?_

Jack finally got him to his feet, although he was very unstable. "Alright dude, I don't have any idea what you're saying, but Kim's hungry, I'm hungry, and I bet you're hungry too, so let's goooo. We'll be back soon Kim!" He called back as he shut the door.

I gave a single wave at the closed door. "Bye," I said, not bothering to call out to my two friends that were probably already at the other end of the hall. I scooted my butt and sat back against the bed frame, trying to ignore my stomach. Jack and Jerry needed to hurry up because I was having serious hunger pains.

There was a soft knock on the door. My first thought was that the boys were fast, but then reason caught up with me and I realized that Phil's was at least fifteen minutes away give or take, and it had barely been five minutes. "Come in?" I asked, hesitantly. _Maybe it's the doctor?_

Slowly, the door opened, and a light brown head of hair peeked inside. "Kim? Hi, it's me, Julie. I don't know if you remember me, but-"

"Of course I remember you! Come here, how have you been? I haven't seen you since… since…" I couldn't actually remember the last time I saw her, but I remembered her.

Julie gave me a warm smile and pulled up a chair next to my wondrous bed that I had yet to leave. "I was afraid that you weren't going to remember me, because that would have made what I'm about to say very awkward." _Uh-oh._

I looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Well," she started, pulling out a small rectangle from her purse, "I heard that you are having trouble remembering Milton, so I brought you something that might help."

I looked down at my hands. "Yeah, he got pretty mad at me the last time he was here." Suddenly, my head snapped up. "Wait, you know Milton?"

Julie gave me a sad little sympathetic smile. "Yeah, that's why I'm here." _What?_ She handed me the white rectangle faced down, and sat back in her chair.

I snatched it- well, okay, I didn't really snatch it- I quickly took it and flipped it over, hoping this mess would just be cleaned up already. It was a picture. Of course it was a picture. _What else would it be?_ I looked at the photo. I mean, _really_ looked at it. It wasn't like one of the pictures that Jack gave me before; we were posed. In a booth at Falafel Phil's. I was in it, next to Jack (_eek!_) and across from us were Julie and…. Milton? I squinted my eyes. "You and Milton?" I asked, not really expecting an answer.

Julie nodded. "Yeah, that picture was taken at one of our first dates that you and Jack set up. You really helped us, Kim, and that's why I brought you the picture. Although we aren't together anymore, I thought it might help you remember Milton. You two became very close during that time. A bit too close, if I remember correctly." I could see the hint of a tiny smile in her eyes, although her face was grave.

_Oh yeah, the kiss._ I could feel my face getting hot. "Why did I kiss him?" I asked carefully. I now knew that Julie and Milton had dated, but I also knew that they were over, so I had mixed feelings about asking the question.

"All I know that it was a case of miscommunication, and you were trying to help him get over his fear of kissing someone other than his Aunt Gertie." She gave me a real smile that time, which I kindly returned. It was nice of her to do this for me. I started to hand her back the picture, but she shook her head. "No, keep it. Or at least until you remember Milton. I have other copies." Julie stood up and smoothed her skirt. "I have to get going, but it was nice to see you again!" She came over to me and gave me a big bear hug, almost choking me.

"It was great to see you too, Julie!" I coughed. "Thanks again for the picture." She let go and proceeded to walk out the door, shutting it behind her, but not without giving me a final wave.

I looked back down at the photo in my hands and stared at Milton and Milton only. Why was I having such a hard time remembering him? _Why is he making things so difficult?_ I was staring at the two-dimensional Milton so intently that I actually had started giving myself a headache. I put my fingers to my temples and rubbed them, trying to concentrate. _Who is Milton? How do I know Milton? What does Milton do? How does Milton-_

"Ahhh!" I gave a little half-hearted scream when the door opened abruptly. I wasn't scared; I was just caught off guard. My shock was replaced by relief when I eyed the bags of food in Jack's hand. _Finally._

"One order of hot fresh falafel balls for Ms. Kim Crawford," Jack sang as he held the bag out to me. Momentarily forgetting about figuring out Milton, I grabbed the bag and started stuffing my face. Gosh, I was such a lady.

"Thank you so much, Jack!" I said, in between bites, still continuing to eat one falafel ball after another. _I really needed this._

Jack sat down in his chair. "No problem. We picked up Milton on the way," and he gestured to the other two boys in the room.

I didn't even wait to swallow. "Multon, com'ere." I was motioning him to come over to where I was sitting while simultaneously spewing falafel chunks everywhere. _Gross. Wow, I'm embarrassing. _By the time I swallowed and wiped a napkin across my mouth, Milton was standing next to me looking confused. "Is something wrong, Kim?"

But I didn't answer him. I just stared at him like I was staring at the picture moments ago. I took in every detail, careful not to overlook anything: his hair, his eyes, the way he was dressed, he looked older now than he did in the picture obviously. But something was missing. _But what is it?_

The room was silent as I looked over the poor kid who stood there helplessly. He probably had no idea what I was doing. Heck, _I_ didn't even know what I was doing. I just needed one thing, one thing to spark a memory, but so far he was giving me nothing.

But no, the picture gave me something. When I looked at the picture, a word kept popping up in my mind. _Something about Christmas, but Christmas what? _Christmas trees? Christmas songs? I had no idea, but I had to try. "Milton," I started slowly in hope of not scaring him off, "does the word 'Christmas' mean anything to you?" He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. "Besides the normal 'It's a time of giving that brings people closer together as a family and is defined by the birth of Jesus' stuff?"

Milton closed his mouth and stood there at the side of my bed for a while just thinking, but after a good minute he just replied, "No, not that I can think of. Why?"

I shook my head and looked at Jack and Jerry. "What about you guys? Ring any bells?"

The boys sat in silence while they pondered the idea of Christmas. You'd think that if it was important enough to pop out at me from a picture, it would be important enough for them to remember it in less than 5 years, which is where we'll be heading if they didn't hurry up. _I'm going to say something in 3… 2… _

Jerry snapped his fingers and pointed to Milton. "I got it! Milton, do you remember that Christmas when we almost got banned from the mall?" He sat back in his chair and laughed. "Man, those were good times."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that!" Jack spoke up. "That was a weird day."

"Definitely. I don't think I'll ever be able to trust another elf again." _Uh, what?_

I looked over at Milton to see what he thought about the situation, but he just had a dazed look on his face. "Milton?" I tried.

He immediately snapped out of it. "Oh, nothing! I was just remembering my awesome present-wrapping ability. I was unstoppable!" And he did a karate motion with his arms that I guess was supposed to be him being unstoppable. Or whatever.

I rolled my eyes. "How did you three almost get banned from the mall?" I asked, finishing my last falafel ball. Boy, those were good.

"You were too busy fighting with Eddie about the window decorations, but we were volunteering at Santa's Village for kids in need." Jerry stopped talking and started picking at his finger nails.

I stared at him, hoping he'd continue, and when he didn't, I asked, "Okay, and that got you banned how?" I was tired of people not getting to the point.

Jack shook his hands and said, "No, Kim, we didn't get _banned._ We just _almost_ did because Joan thought we took toys from the donation pile when really someone framed us." I honestly didn't think how any of this was going to help me remember Milton, but it was one heck of a story.

So I just laughed. "You guys are idiots," I smiled at the three guys in my room- well, mostly at Jack, who smiled right back.

Suddenly, Milton snapped us out of our staring contest. "Holy Christmas Nuts! Do you people know what this means?" He was looking at his phone, so I was going to assume that I didn't know what 'this' could mean, but a part of what he said sounded so familiar. Too familiar. _Hold on just a sec…_

I'm pretty sure my brain just caught on fire. Obviously not literally, but Milton finally said it. "That's it!" I exclaimed with a wild look in my eyes. _Probably._ But I didn't care. His phrase gave me all that I needed to know. "Milton! You finally said it!" He was still standing next to my bed from when I called him over earlier, so I pulled the un-expecting boy into a hug. "Thank you!"

Although I couldn't see his face, I could tell he had a very confused expression from the way he spoke. "Thank me for what? What did I say? Kim, you're strangling me. GAHHH!" I laughed and let him go, with a smile still plastered on my face.

"You said 'holy Christmas nuts'! That's, like, your thing! That's what I was looking for when I asked you if the word 'Christmas' meant anything to you. I couldn't put my finger on why my brain wanted you to say it, but now that you did, I know!" I couldn't stop smiling. Finally, everything was going back to normal. If only the boys knew how much this meant to me.

Now it was Jack's turn to ask questions. "What do you mean, Kim? What do you know?" But as soon as he finished, his eyes widened, the realization setting in. "Does this mean what I think it means?"

"Hmhm," I nodded enthusiastically while Jerry looked back and forth between us saying, "what? What does this mean?"

I pulled Milton back into a hug. "Milton, I remember you!" How could I have forgotten him? Besides Jack, he was my closest friend in the group. Sure, he could be nerdy at times, but he was a great friend and he always had my back. And I felt bad about treating him like I did. "I am so sorry for everything I've said to you since I've woken up!" Which, by the way, felt like a lifetime ago. I didn't even know how much time had passed.

Milton pulled away. "Really, Kim? You actually remember me?" When I nodded, he threw his head back and arms in the air and yelled, "Hallelujah!" _What a weirdo._

"And before ya'll ask, I remember Eddie too." I got a bunch of puzzled looks, so I pressed on. "Well, kind of. Memories of him appeared when I was remembering you guys, and I was going to talk to him about it the next time he visited, but he never came back."

Jack was the one to speak. "Oh, he moved to England to take care of his grandmother." _What?_ How does someone just pick up and move to England? Has it really been that long? "He would've said goodbye, but you were unconscious at the time."

_Oh that makes sense._ Sure, it was sad to see him go, but I didn't really care one way or the other. He was a really nice guy, but he wasn't one of my _best_ friends. It would've been different if Jack or Milton moved to England instead. I shuddered just thinking about it. Nope, I definitely couldn't handle it.

Moving on. "Alrighty," I started, clapping my hands together, "now that we've got Milton and Eddie out of the way, what's next? What else do I have to remember?" _Surely there can't be that much more._

Milton sat down in a chair to the left of Jack. "Well, I don't have the binder with me, but from what I can recall, you only have one important thing left to remember. The unimportant things can be slowly brought back over time, because, well, they aren't that important."

I nodded slowly. _Okay, one more thing. I can do this. One more thing…_ "Okay, what is it?"

Milton smiled softly. "Your parents."

To be honest, it felt like someone punched me in the stomach. I had to remember _my parents, _or, to be more specific according to Jack, the couple that I kicked out of my room for being strangers. Wow, I was so mean then.

I knew it was going to take a lot of work, considering how badly I treated them, but I also knew it was going to be worth it at the end when I could finally say I remembered everything.

I took a long deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Okay, let's do this."

**Well, that was Chapter eight, and again, I'm terrible at endings, so this is just going to have to work.**

**Remember to tell me what you think of the chapter, and ask me any questions you might have! THANK YOU to the people who reviewed the last chapter; it honestly helps me to keep going, and I know I keep saying it, but it's true.**

**I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and thank you for staying with me through these long three years. MERRY CHRISTMAS and have a HAPPY HOLIDAYS!**

**-ecStarz**


End file.
